Emily Sprague—the songwriter behind Florist—has said that the New York band’s new single “What I Wanted to Hold” is about the idea that impermanence is the “dominant theme of life.” The fact that everything you know and love will one day fade is oft-ignored, and should be a real downer of a sentiment, except Florist doesn’t really treat it that way. In a comforting monotone, Sprague offers a string of memories stripped to their most striking details. There isn’t much action in the lyrics, just little details like “yellow light on the wall,” or a love that’s a stunning violet, but “slowly fades to blue.” People and places become blurry outlines in Sprague’s memory, reduced to vague gestures and feelings—but they’re illuminated in brilliant colors.

The instrumental is similarly full of vibrancy. Though it’s built around a slow-moving acoustic guitar line, in the distance there’s pointillist electronics and webs of strings—reflecting the surprising warmth of the lyrics, like sunlight off a lake. At the center there’s Sprague, a voice unwavering as she remembers the things she’s lost and toasts a new beginning. Toward the end, she switches to the present tense: “I’m alive and I’m OK/The air is light blue today.” Even if nothing good can stay, there’s still always going to be new colors worth remembering.