STACK #128 Jun 2016

MUSIC

that as much as it was about that, it was about a relationship that I was having with myself; conflicts, what I was going through.” Themes can be a moot point: the author may have one perspective, the listener quite another – that’s just one way that music works. The sound, on the other hand, is quite a different issue. Few music fans question the sonic quality of Florence’s voice: it’s unusual, and immediately recognisable – her phrasing, timbre, and vocal power is uniquely distinct. What’s different about How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful is the sound, the physical terrain of the music, the atmosphere of the thing; it’s recognisably Florence + the Machine but it’s undoubtedly an evolution. “We wanted it to sound like Tom Petty taking off on a jet plane in the ’70s,” she says. “A lot of it was quite dictated by being in LA, driving in cars a lot. This idea of expanse and space, ‘bigness’. There was a bigness to Ceremonials , but it was darker – more about submersion – whereas I think this one’s about elevation.” And it wasn’t just “driving around LA” that gave the album a little sprinkle of City of Angels dust; certain songs specifically deal with LA locales, or draw their inspiration from them. The album’s title track, for example. " How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful was written about the last tour – one of my favourite tours around America, actually," says Welch. "We were playing this show at The Hollywood Bowl, and played two nights… the beginning lines of that song, 'between a crucifix and the Hollywood sign' [refer to that time]." But several other markers of inspiration aren’t so literal. One of the album’s more abstract touch points came via the discovery of late ex-pat Australian artist Vali Meyers, one time confidante of both Patti Smith (as immortalised in Smith’s superb book, Just Kids ) and Marianne Faithful. “Vali Meyers – she’s this amazing shaman/artist and she was the subject of Ed van der Elsken's Love on the Left Bank . She lived in a cave in Porto Fino, and made these amazing dream paintings. She would get inspiration from the dream world, and bring it back to reality. I couldn’t believe I’d never found her before," says Welch. If the world remembers Florence + the Machine, if there’s any justice, it will be for How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful ; it’s an album that sees the singer not only break out of the shell of her youth and former self, but break out musically as well.

Ship to Wreck A highly energised, acoustic belter to open proceedings. “Don’t touch the sleeping pills/ they mess with my head.../ did I dream too much, am I losing touch/ did I build a ship to wreck?” gives us a clue to the singer’s state of mind and the journey we’re about to undertake. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful “Between a crucifix and the Hollywood sign we decided to get hurt/ now there’s a few things we have to burn.” Florence, you have our

Mother The chains are, by this point, well and truly thrown off. Sweeping through the album’s broad theme of freeing oneself from inner demons, this is a crowning achievement in a musical sense as well. “I put my feet into the fountain/ the statues all asleep/ no use wishing on the water…Mother made me a bird of prey.” Keys shimmer, guitars travel, voices harmonise – but the end is an absolute avalanche, an unhinged ‘fists at the sky, I’ll take you and win’ moment that may yet convince hardened cynics.

attention. With tumble-down strings and a horn-fuelled refrain, this will effortlessly whip you up in its tide of love, regret and remonstration. Long and Lost A meticulously crafted, beautiful track, Florence’s voice is centre-stage. Dark, atmospheric, and lonely. “Can the city forgive, I hear it’s sad song” sings Florence. Teenagers in bedrooms will play on repeat. One for night listening.

The video clips drawn fro m How Big, How Blue, How Beautifu l are a cut above the standard fare. The over-arching themes of the album are reflected in a series of clips created in collaboration between Florence and director Vincent Haycock. “It spans a broad spectrum of songs – some are slow and emotional, some are anthemic and raw,“ says the filmmaker. “My goal is to create videos that will follow the music throughout, guiding us through each layer of the How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful odyssey.” Speaking about the clip for first single What Kind Of Man?, he says: “It’s obviously about relationships, but it’s also about Florence travelling through our version of The Divine Comedy . So in essence this video is the first layer of Hell…”

How Big, How Blue,

How Beautiful by Florence + the Machine is available now via Universal.

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