Florence And The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (Album Review)
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Written by Huw Baines
When a stylistic choice becomes a defining characteristic, things can get tricky. Florence Welch’s appetite for the melodramatic is part of the fabric of her band’s status as arena-straddling behemoths, but ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ offers a chance to play with that formula a little. At times it does just that, but the old way still wields great influence.
Here we find Welch at her most candid, open to heartache and communicating the confusion that comes with picking through the emotional bric-a-brac of real life, removed from the touring bubble. The record has a natural quality, one removed from the ever-present gloss of ‘Ceremonials’ by a reliance on classic instrumentation and, by their standards, straightforward arrangements.
Ship To Wreck might have suggested that here the Machine would be re-tooled for a full on assault on Fleetwood Mac territory, but in reality the shift in style is more nuanced than that. The introduction of a bold brass section snatches some of the spotlight from Welch and, while overblown in its own way, allows her melodies a little space to breathe.
There are some great songs here, from the opener to the title track and Delilah, where competing vocal lines morph into a slow-burn treat. Welch’s performance ranges from the speaker-shattering power of old to the sort of deft, heartfelt delivery her critics would have you believe is beyond her. Long and Lost, in particular, is as close to a lament as she’s likely to come: “Is it too late to come on home? Can a city forgive? I hear its sad song.”
For all that, though, there are moments when the record quickly reverts to Plan A. Queen of Peace and Mother are fatally chaotic, with multi-tracked vocals teetering like a particularly nervous Jenga move amid excess background noise. The chorus of the latter is, for all its stylistic sparkle, one of the weakest on the record.
The end result is a pretty uneven landscape. In its reflective passages, ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ represents a new side of Florence and the Machine, one that could yet yield a fascinating record all by itself. When the urge to scream from the rooftops takes over, though, things become familiar and, at this stage in the game, more than a little underwhelming.
Florence and the Machine Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed September 09 2015 - BELFAST Odyssey Arena
Thu September 10 2015 - DUBLIN 3Arena Dublin
Sat September 12 2015 - SHEFFIELD Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
Mon September 14 2015 - GLASGOW SSE Hydro
Tue September 15 2015 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Metro Radio Arena
Thu September 17 2015 - NOTTINGHAM Capital FM Arena Nottingham
Fri September 18 2015 - MANCHESTER Arena
Sat September 19 2015 - BIRMINGHAM Genting Arena
Mon September 21 2015 - LONDON Alexandra Palace
Tue September 22 2015 - LONDON Alexandra Palace
Thu September 24 2015 - LONDON Alexandra Palace
Fri September 25 2015 - LONDON Alexandra Palace
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