Flock (Jane Weaver album)

Flock follows Weaver's ambient ensemble Fenella's project Fehérlófia, delivered in 2019 that was inspired by Marcell Jankovics's 1981 Hungarian animated film of the same name.[2] It also marks her first full-length release since her 2019 album, Loops in the Secret Society.[3] As opposed to her previous works which incorporated synth-pop, cosmic folk, experimental electronics, and avant-garde indie rock,[4] Flock has a pop-indebted sound.[5] According to Weaver, the record was inspired by Lebanese torch songs, 1980s Russian Aerobics records and Australian punk.[6][3]

[...] Flock is a collection of pop songs that I don't think lend themselves to just one thing, I just went with the flow and looked at each song individually. The artwork features me in a peacock chair surrounded by birdboxes waiting for the flock to return.

— Weaver on the album, Louder Than War[7]

The record was announced in October 2020, alongside the cover-art and tracklist.[8][9] "The Revolution of Super Visions", a Prince-esque funk track, was simultaneously served as the lead single from the album.[6] In lead-up to the release, the album opener, "Heartlow" was served as the second single on 13 January 2021.[10] Flock was released on 5 March 2021 by Fire Records.[8] The album was released in three vinyl editions: olive-green, cream, and standard light rose vinyl editions.[11]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.6/10[12]
Metacritic	85/100[13]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Arts Desk	[14]
The Guardian	[1]
The Line of Best Fit	8/10[15]
Loud and Quiet	8/10[16]
Mojo	[13]
musicOMH	[17]
The Quietus	[18]
Under the Radar	[3]
Uncut	9/10[13]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 85, based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[13] At AnyDecentMusic?, which collates album reviews from websites, magazines and newspapers, they gave the release a 8 out of 10, based on a critical consensus of 11 reviews.[12]

In The Guardian, music critic Alexis Petridis listed it as the best album of its release week. He lauded the album for experimenting with diverse pop styles and incorporating a "hallucinatory" production. Petridis noted similarities in the music to the works of Kylie Minogue and Dua Lipa. He also praised the lyricism and described the record as "genuinely different and exhilarating".[1] Janne Oinonen of The Line of Best Fit wrote that the album portrayed "the sweet revenge of the melody: dancefloor-friendly pop music, but of a variety that remains intoxicatingly unmoored to the conventions and codes of the earthly realm."[15] Richard Foster of The Quietus felt the album recalled "'60s girl groups, '90s grooves, and '50s sound effects". He said that it acted as a "a midwife, delivering the feeling of delight you get when listening to things that have been sat glumly in the back of the cabinet, or reassessing careworn memories given a good polish."[18]

Tim Sendra of AllMusic commended the album for exploring various genres and dubbed it as Weaver's "greatest-hits" album. He further wrote, "Flock is the work of a daring artist, a crafty writer and performer, and someone who is always worth following to see what kind of great things she might do in the future.[4] Similarly, Under the Radar's Dom Gourlay considered it "the best of all Weaver's diverse genre colliding worlds in one glorious sitting."[3] Loud and Quiet writer Alex Francis praised the album for its retro stylings and wrote that "Flock is a record which is invested in the production of a better future.[16]

• Flock at Discogs (list of releases)