Reese Florence doesn’t just make music—she builds an atmosphere. Like filling the space with light in a dark and empty room. The Guyanese-Martiniquais American singer-songwriter pulls from a deep and meditative place to create songs that feel both intimate and immense.
As her songs drift, unravel, and settle deep in your chest, you find yourself soothed by her vocals. A voice that holds authority, settled in alto. Her words are delicate but powerful: “Please, tell me how / You take your night tea / To help you sleep sound.” It’s a whisper that lingers, like the last conversation before you fall asleep. Think Sibyl Baier’s ghostly and iconic folk or Jessica Pratt’s delicate surrealism, but with a stillness all her own.
Her debut EP, Avoir, Ennui (2024), is a quiet storm of restraint and emotion. The album’s warmth is amplified by Katie Hackett’s backing vocals and guitar, while Adam Shumpski’s bass and percussion add a steady, grounding pulse. Florence spoke with us about where music found her, the weight of place, and what’s next for her Philadelphia-rooted sound.
Attia Taylor: Let me start by saying, I love your music. It struck me immediately. When did you get started playing music?
Reese Florence: I would say I grew up playing music in choir like singing in music groups at school and then getting into musical theater. But it wasn't until I was 13 that I started playing the ukulele. I taught myself how to play and I was also really into literature and poetry and was already writing poetry at the time. And so instead of learning how to play other people's songs, I would just learn tabs and chords and then turn my poems into songs.
When did you start thinking, maybe I can do this more seriously as an adult?
I was learning how to play the ukulele, writing poetry and translating them into song. It got to a point where I had just been using whatever I had at the time like an iPad or iPod and using Garage Band to record the songs and was slowly to essentially produce my own music and release it on Soundcloud, but because they were just for me, I would delete them.
When I moved to Philadelphia, I got into the CBGB underground scene. There were a bunch of musicians hosting open mics and open jams and specifically this one place called ‘My Goodness’. This was years ago. It's called Sam's Diner on 11th and South Philly. They would host a meeting for their anti-fascist group called Refuse Fascism and I would play a couple of songs, but it was just because they asked me to.
I never planned to really do anything with these songs. Also, because the songs that I wrote were just things that I needed to get out. They were from a deeply subconscious place. And in order to understand where I was coming from in my life and why I was feeling the way I did, I would write. And so the unfolding of those songs gave me better understanding. And that's all. I never intended for it to be a performative thing for me to go out and play songs. So, it has been a pleasure that beginning to just kind of fold fall into these groups of people to then start really thinking about music seriously and start playing
Last year, playing at the Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Art Museum was such a pleasure. I would have never thought my subconscious mind would bring me to this place because that was the intention of it all; to understand the things that we can't see that are navigating us right now.
What has been the response to your music so far? How have people been receiving your work now that it's more public?
I feel really grateful for the support that I've been getting over the past year now. It's been really humbling to see how many people feel impacted by not only what the music is, but what I'm saying as well, my song, Digital Dissociation. A lot of people resonate with being digitally dissociative on social media platforms and being able to have a voice for that is pretty comforting to know that a lot of people also feel the same way and can come to this song to ground.
Sometimes I can't believe that people are listening to my music. And so when that's happening, I feel surprised. I think humbling is the right word for it.
Photo Credit: Keren Fedida
Do you have plans for an EP or another full length album? What are you thinking about next?
I have a single that I'm about to release. I think moving forward I would love to play more acoustically. It was such a pleasure to work with Katie Hackett who was the producer on that double single and it was the right production for those two songs specifically.
When I perform, I play with just an acoustic nylon. I want to capture the rawness of that. The next single that I have really captured that feeling of just me and my guitar. Honestly with the economy and when it comes to recording music, it's very unaffordable for me.
It really comes down to how much I can afford or what is worthwhile but by 2026, I would love to have a full length project out. It's been something I've been anticipating for a long time and I think a lot of people as well.
It's really cool to know that a lot of people are just waiting for me to do something and so that gives me momentum to do something about it.
I'm one of those people waiting on what's next, but appreciating your current output. Not to rush you or anything because the artistic process takes time.
Thank you so much.
