Florence + the Machine - High As Hope
Drowned In Sound 90
Less is more has never been Florence + the Machine’s mantra, especially back in the days of Lungs (2009) and Ceremonials (2011), with Florence Welch having stated that when it comes to her songwriting, 'Everything is a crescendo.' But almost a decade since the band’s debut album, Welch makes a return with High As Hope, proving that you can have a hair-raising powerhouse of a record without the unnecessary bell, whistles and gothic melodrama.
Picking up from where How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful left off three years ago, High As Hope strips things right back, culling off all traces of bombast and cryptic meanings, choosing instead to shoot straight to the point musically and lyrically, making this one hell of a raw album to digest. No thunderous booming drums here, no particularly grandiose orchestras either, not even very much in the way of operatic vocals courtesy Welch, and yet, the band actually manages to create an album that packs a harder punch emotionally and sonically without all those noisy extras.
And it starts right off the bat with the beautiful and sparse ‘June’, a song that is simultaneously subtle and thunderous – if that’s even possible – like an approaching storm that threatens to unleash menace upon you over the duration of three straight minutes. But never does. And that’s okay. It’s actually even better this way. Surprisingly, it’s followed by ‘Hunger’ – probably the bounciest, up-tempo, toe-tapping pop song on the entire album which weirdly enough has one of the grimmest themes of all the tracks, recounting Welch’s teenage eating disorder and a tendency towards self-destruction: “At 17, I used to starve myself, I thought that love was a kind of emptiness,” she sings, while managing to make it all sound like a radio-friendly festival anthem. It’s light and dark at the same time and applies to universal feelings of self-loathing, a need for love and a sense of belonging.
‘Big God’ meanwhile steps into Tori Amos territory, occasionally even in singing style, with its foreboding piano and brooding vibe, making this another definite highlight on ‘High As Hope’. Co-written by Jamie xx and featuring sax contribution from Kamasi Washington (who makes multiple appearances across the album), ‘Big God’ sounds aggressive, explosive and pissed off as hell, which is curious because the use of instruments is actually at bare minimum... Just goes to show that less, indeed, can be more. ‘Grace’ is another beauty, though for a very different reason. A spine-tingling tear-jerker, it’s Welch’s letter of apology to her sister for being a bit of a shit in the past: “I’m sorry I ruined your birthday, I guess I could go back to university, try and make my mother proud,” she sings over the jazz-tinged piano. Given that Welch is sober these days, and considering the heart-felt emotion pouring out on ‘Grace’, it’s probably a lesson learned.
As bare bones and organic as the album is – there are only ten tracks in total – it’s not completely devoid of guitars or soaring vocals or even the orchestral element – it’s just that it’s all more restrained, calmer, collected and generally much more mature. And whaddya want? This is Florence + the Machine, after all, and High As Hope should really be viewed as an exercise in de-cluttering rather than a full makeover. It’s raw, human, stripped of all excess and laid bare – and it’s quite possibly the most beautiful thing the band has ever released. Near perfection.
Mon Jul 02 12:04:00 GMT 2018The Guardian 60
Florence Welch’s fourth album is most powerful when focused on the small, telling details of encroaching adulthood
Florence Welch recently told a journalist that her fourth album pursues a noticeably different direction. It is, she confirmed, less “Florence-y”. It’s a statement that is hard to read without raising a quizzical eyebrow. Being Florence-y means dealing in a showy kind of musical melodrama, where tribal drums meet sawing orchestras, grandiloquent piano and the singer’s war-cry voice, heavy on the vibrato. It’s an approach that has earned her three platinum albums and a level of fame that’s led Penguin to collect and publish her biro-written poems, lyrics and inspirational notes-to-self in a book.
Related: Florence + the Machine review – gung-ho diva has OTT down to a T
Related: Florence Welch: ‘I wonder sometimes, did I dream too big?’
Continue reading... Thu Jun 28 15:00:10 GMT 2018The Guardian 60
Her elemental themes and gale-force delivery remain but Florence Welch now seems to be settling for a little calm
The myth of the tortured artist predates pop music by a few hundred years at least. The idea that meaningful art is forged in some crucible of suffering will very likely survive as a concept, even when all the hits we bounce around to are generated entirely by algorithms. What happens, though, when a drama queen craves a little peace?
Over the past decade, Florence Welch has been one of the ultimate British poster girls for eventfulness – for heartbreak and abandon and a kind of wild, feminine too-muchness – an impression only amplified by the might of her lungs. One of a handful of contemporary female artists whose voices you can spot instantly, Welch’s instrument could upgrade a splinter to a matter of national security with one exhalation.
Related: Florence Welch: ‘I wonder sometimes, did I dream too big?’
Continue reading... Sun Jul 01 08:00:38 GMT 2018