The Expanding Flower Planet is the first studio album by Deradoorian, a former member of Dirty Projectors.[1] It was released on Anticon on August 21, 2015.[2] Co-produced with Kenny Gilmore, it features contributions from Jeremy Hyman, Michael Lockwood, Niki Randa, and Arlene Deradoorian.[3] The title of the album comes from a Chinese mandala tapestry that hung in Deradoorian's studio.[4]
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, The Expanding Flower Planet received an average score of 78, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5]
Alex McCown of The A.V. Club gave the album a grade of B, saying, "Despite most songs consisting of little more than a simple drum beat, bass, and some synths buffeting Deradoorian's soaring and layered vocal tracks, it wouldn't be accurate to call the arrangements spare."[7] Daniel Sylester of Exclaim! gave the album an 8 out of 10 and said, "On The Expanding Flower Planet, Deradoorian melds atmospheric dance beats with world music melodies, crafting a sound reminiscent of early Sinéad O'Connor."[9]
Daniel Paton of MusicOMH gave the album 4 stars out of 5 and said, "Deradoorian has demonstrated here that she is a confident, mature and distinctive artist."[11] John Paul of PopMatters gave the album 8 stars out of 10 and called it "a confident declaration of independence from a vital artist operating at the top of her creative game."[12]
The Skinny placed it at number 47 on the "50 Best Albums of 2015" list.[15]