In 2009 the magnificently flamboyant Florence Welch burst onto the music scene with her band’s first album ‘Lungs‘. No need to recall the success attributed to Florence + the Machine that year: 2009 was underniably their time.
Even though Florence hasn’t released any new material since she has stayed active releasing mostly remixes and live recordings and making many memorable appearances more recently performing the new track ‘What the Water Gave Me‘ at a Chanel runway show.
Three years later, Florence and her Machine are back with a new breathtaking album named ‘Ceremonials‘. Faithful to the magical, eery atmosphere that characterized them, this album is the perfect second chapter.
Whereas ‘Lungs‘ was very musically diverse, ‘Ceremonials‘ is more like one long ballad, following Florence through storms or mountains. In my opinion, three songs stand out on this album: ‘Shake It Out‘, the gospely/ pop song which supposedly refers to Welch shaking the regrets and things haunting her; ‘What The Water Gave Me‘, the first single from the album and which is said to be inspired by Virginia Woolf ( who drowned herself in a river), and finally ‘No Light, No Light‘, which I find to be one of the most powerful songs I have heard in a while.
What I have always particularly enjoyed about Miss Welch is that she does not simply count on her incredible voice to make up the music. She creates an atmosphere, with brimming drums, organs, harps and vocal chorales that all mix up perfectly to create a sound that touches gospel, celtic melodies, goth, rock and plain pop.
Indeed, just as ‘Lungs‘ sounded like nothing else around at the time or indeed before ( no matter how often she can be compared to Kate Bush), this album delivers the same uniqueness.
Now I just cannot wait to see her perform this album live!
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Post by Olivia
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TRACKS:
Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out
