Florence and the Machine

Week 45: Florence and the Machine- Everybody Scream

~ honestopinions19 ~ Leave a comment

This will not be a long review as I was pretty underwhelmed by Florence and the Machine’s latest album “Everbody Scream”, although I did like the rhyming theme to it( Florence and the Machine, Everybody Scream, Released on Halloween). Rather than being a record that’s enjoyable, it’s a more important one. Why? Because the momentum is light, but the atmosphere is heavy. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t affect Florence Welch’s vocals, because as always, they sound incredible. Despite the grandiose sound with the cathedral-sized intensity that every song wells up to, it starts becoming a bit boring. There are no real highs or lows or contrast, which just leaves an ethereal fog of emotion throughout

The lyricism is quite disappointing,too. Something that Florence usually excels at finding the balance of poetic and primal, feels too self-absorbed. They are too reflective, with little variation. I found that I was always waiting for something more like a beat drop, a hook, or something far-out, which unfortunately never materialised.

Although I do have some song recommendations, because I did find the choir (I think that’s what I meant)sections quite angelic, and the wonderful instruments like the harp, I found most of the record boring. Yes, the album is beautiful and bright with colour, but it becomes a bit too much. Your attention starts to waver after a few tracks. My analogy for it would be that the ground is white with snow, but instead of admiring its beauty, you want to go outside and enjoy it before it melts.

Song recommendations: ‘Sympathy Magic’, ‘You Can Have it All’, ‘Everybody Scream’

6/10

Week 20: Florence and the Machine- Dance Fever

~ honestopinions19 ~ Leave a comment
Florence and the Machine started as a duo in 2007, with Florence Welch on vocals and Isabella Summers on keyboards. They were initially called Florence Robot/Isa Machine before changing the name to Florence is a Machine before their first gig. Eventually, they settled on Florence and the Machine and turned it into a band rather than a duo. 

However, most mistaken the band as Florence’s solo project as the group bears her name. It would help if they said it sounds like a duo because Isabella is “the Machine”. I have heard many accounts where “the Machine” has been mistaken for Florence’s backing band. I first heard Florence and the Machine via a friend’s iTunes playlist in late 2008. I had never heard of the band, and he had ‘Rabbit Heart(Raise it up)’ on this playlist. I was instantly impressed with Florence’s vocal range on the track. Alas, I was disappointed with Florence’s live vocals when I saw them live at Glastonbury, iTunes, Oxygen, and Reading/Leeds that year. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the music, but those notes she hit on ‘Rabbit Heart(Raise it up)’ were far from what I heard on the studio version.

I don’t intend to make this a long review for their latest album, “Dance Fever”, because I am not sold on it. Plenty of the tracks have long intros or outros, making me think they plan on doing another short film as they did for their 2015 record “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”. I prefer that album to this. “Dance Fever” was made over the past two years during lockdown. From what I gathered, the record focuses on mental health, and Florence details it like talking to a therapist. This isn’t my reason for not liking it. The intros and outros were far too long.

The production is tame to what you have come to have known Florence and the Machine for. The production is split between Jack Antonoff and Dave Bayley. It is hard to write about one song because they seem to crash into each other. I enjoyed the bonus disc that featured four songs off the standard version acoustically and a track called ‘Search and Destroy’, which for me was the best track of the entire album, but it is a cover of the Stooges song.


Song recommendations: ‘Search and Destroy’, ‘Cassandra’, ‘Free’




6/10