Returning from 2018’s well received Almost, Ohio four-piece The Ophelias take an interesting new direction on Crocus meaning that at it’s finest, such as the delicate opener, ‘Crocus’ or harder/Celtic sounding ‘Becoming a nun’, this is a fabulous, confessional, tour de force collection of indie/folk pop blending unique melodies with deft musicality.  Fully open in its lyrics, Crocus is a confident delivery of authenticity, producing slightly Alanis Morrisette spikiness in places, and slightly broken-hearted Whistkeytown witfulness in others.  Perhaps sticking too much to a song writing and instrumentation formulae across the full album, Crocus misses top marks by being a bit too repetitive in places; a shame given the risks they initially took to change their sound.  Perhaps sometimes you can have too much of what you want.