Vandoliers‘ “Wildflower” is largely based in straightforward country music, a touch of shout-along folk-punk contouring its edges. Instrumentally, it’s a very complex song, horns trading off with strings and banjo under vocalist Joshua Fleming’s strained yell. Its instrumental complications and genre tropes fit its subject matter appropriately — it’s about the lost and broken, those from whom we’ve had to move on. It’s a dark song with a touch of brightness and hope, a tone kept consistent by the way it occasionally soars far above its gloomy guitar spine.
“‘Wildflower’ was based off the experiences of one of my friends who lost his wife to depression last year,” says Fleming. “Losing her and the guilt that it was somehow his fault was an uphill struggle he was going through at the time. I wanted to give him a song that could console him but at the same time be uplifting and triumphant.”
Ameri-kinda releases October 21st.