Floetry ‘Says Yes’ to reunion

On July 24, fans once again can enjoy the art of the English neo soul duo Floetry, performing together after disbanding several years ago. That surely will please those who have connected to their music and experiences on deep and emotional levels. That bond was on display recently in a performance that seemingly transcended thunderstorms, as Floetry — a.k.a. Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart — closed out the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans over the Fourth of July weekend.

Now in their early 30s, Stewart and Ambrosius created Floetic in 2002. That’s when Marsha Ambrosius (“the songstress”) and Natalie Stewart (“the floacist”) debuted their sultry R&B album Floetic. The album featured singles “Floetic,” “Say Yes” and “Getting Late,” and garnered the group four Grammy nominations, including one for Best Contemporary R&B album and one for Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal.

In a recent chat with the Banner, Ambrosius recalls, “Nat and I were just saying, it was so long ago. We were 21 and 22, respectively, when we wrote these songs. Now, having lived so much life in-between, it’s almost like we had crystal balls and we were talking to our future selves. I hadn’t really had a deeper relationship in Getting Late just yet, but having lived life and experienced it, it’s like ‘Wow, that absolutely has new meaning!’”

Organic realignment

In 2007 Ambrosius and Stewart parted ways, moving on to record solo albums. It wasn’t until December 2014 that the two briefly reunited when Ambrosius invited Stewart on stage to perform with her during a London concert.

Ambrosius describes that moment as “amazing”. “It was really over the Christmas period, it was from there that we got back on stage. I knew how I felt. That’s been the part that has been second nature. We can get on stage and we can close our eyes and really know where we’re going musically. It’s that energy, that synergy that we have through music.”

Stewart adds to the sentiment. “With regards to Marsha and I being back on stage, it’s very natural. It’s a very natural alignment that Marsha and I have created. That’s probably because long before we were even doing Floetry, we were friends as kids growing up. We’ve known each [perhaps] double the time that people have known Floetry. It’s a very organic alignment.”

That’s the chemistry that has fans excited about Floetry’s current reunion tour. “Being at Essence again, having done the simple lounges for that many years leading up to what was then our first main stage appearance, I think our only issue was trying to keep our set list to a strict 45 minutes at least,” says Ambrosius. “We’re used to doing close to two hours. Yet it still feels like no time at all [because] we have so much music. But it was so much fun to do, and the crowd was loving it. We had the crazy thunderstorm that day but it was a wonderful reception, very well-received. We were just having fun up there.”