Florence & The Machine - High As Hope

Florence & The Machine are an Indie Rock band from England, headed by Florence Welch.  Now, honestly, I think the band has gotten a little bit of a bad reputation over the years.  I actually don't mind the band's 2009 debut "Lungs" at all.  Sure, some of the more Baroque Pop tracks like "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" were ripped kicking and screaming from the absolute worst Urban Outfitters playlist.  But lets get some facts straight.  First off, this album is seriously versatile, from the bluesy "Girl With One Eye", to the legitimate Punk vibes on "Kiss With A Fist".  And second of all, love this band or not, Florence is one hell of a performer.  Florence and company returned in 2011 with "Ceremonials", a much more straightforward release.  A little too straightforward if you ask me.  I do have to say, Florence's performances were top notch and better then ever, with tracks like "Breaking Down" and "Shake It Out" being legitimate explosive anthems.  But this album wasn't nearly the clash of styles the band's debut was.  This was a Baroque Pop record through and through, which I'm absolutely interested in.  But so many of these tracks instrumentally sounded almost exactly the same, and put way too much faith in Florence's performance.  Thankfully, she was able to carry the album and make it listenable.   But personally, I just figured Florence & The Machine were selling themselves short.  But Florence & Company silenced everyone who questioned them with 2015's "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful".  This album is absolutely ridiculous, and easily one of the best Pop album's of that year.  For the first time I felt like the music surrounding Florence was big and grand enough to match her stunning performances.  The instrumentals were just gorgeous, with strings, horns and seemingly endless other bombastic instruments not present as much on the early albums of Florence & The Machine.  Not to mention, Florence's songwriting on here was raised numerous notches.  She wasn't just writing emotional tunes, she was writing anthems with a really clever old-school singer-songwriter vibe.  Honestly, I couldn't have been happier with it.  Now, from the sound of these new singles from Florence & Co, these aren't as flashy and refined as anything she's pulled off in the past.  They're slow burners for the most part, but I'll be damned if they aren't powerful.  Let's chat.

(A personal favorite of mine!)

This album starts off with “June”, and right off the bat we have this very slow, relaxed start.  This is far from the very instantaneous beginning to the groups last album.  However, let’s talk about Florence’s performance.  Here, she sounds absolutely at her bluesiest and most pained.  And at first, I’ll be honest I really didn’t know how to take this one.  But man, this is a seriously epic and intense introduction to the sounds of this album.  Between Florence’s repeated mantra of “hold on to each other”, as well as this instrumental which starts soft but get’s gigantic, this track is wild.  For a slower tune, this is just so passionate and grand.  And by the end, it’s just this swirling cloud of dazzling instrumentals and Florence’s wildly emotional singing.  Not to mention, this reaches a whole new level of personal bars from Florence, but more on THAT later.  The very patient tracks roll on with “Hunger”, but the incredibly personal lyrics continue in an even bigger way.  This album is a coming out part for Florence the way she’s never done before.  It’s actually incredibly stunning, as she goes deep into her youth of starving herself and being so desperate for love.  I love the strong, Piano Rock flair to this, it gives such a great backbone to Florence’s performances without taking anything away.  Pardon the pun, but this one has such a hunger to it, this incredibly want to it that’s so universal.  “Hunger” is one hell of a massive single that’s the sort of Epic-all-around sound that I love to hear from Florence and company.  On the other hand, “South London Forever” goes for almost a Baroque Pop sound, which is new and sort of interesting from Florence.  I love the sort of storytelling aspect that’s so much more first-person style.  Florence continues to dive deep into her youth, between being filled with lust and enjoying drinking maybe a little too much.  It makes this already deeply powerful album even more powerful.  Florence’s performances over the years have gotten more sincere with each release.  Now, I do sort of wish this instrumental was maybe a little more bombastic.  But this is still a very personal, strong track demo Florence, with some really awesome imagery towards the end.  Then we have “Big God”, which is the bluesiest thing we’ve heard from Florence & Company in years.  Her vocals here are absolutely gargantuan and seemingly so bruised.  It’s an almost heavenly performance that’s just so pure.  Lyrically, Florence just comes off so distraught.  But I have to admit, I haven’t been into this one since I heard it a ways back.  I do enjoy the very heartfelt and passionate performance from Florence.  But man, that’s all this track is.  Instrumentally this is just about everything I once worried so deeply about the music of Florence and company years ago.  Her performance is commendable, but without the appropriate backdrop this one becomes a much. 

“Sky Full Of Song” is up next, and once again it rolls down this very soulful and bluesy path.  And honestly, it continues to work very well in Florence’s favor.  Now, this one has a much more epic, soaring sound to it even if it is still along the same stripped-down sound.  I have to say, I love how this one continues to illustrate Florence in her youth.  She was so desperate for love in a wild way, and it’s off because now she comes off so confident and womanly.  Now, this isn’t my favorite song of the bunch, but it’s once again a very solid, elegant Pop tune.  And once again, some of the imagery here is just so beautiful and really adds a great element to this.  “Grace” continues on, and this album continues to be a mere shadow of just how elegant the last album was from Florence, being so stripped down.  Hell, most of this album is simply Florence alongside her Piano.  This one once again has this undeniable sorrow to it, as Florence starts out by saying “Sorry I ruined your birthday”, and once again diving into topics of drinking.  Her vocals here are staggering and heart-wrenching, and here the incredibly bluesy vibes do nothing but wonders.  In this instance, the much more stripped down instrumental makes this one come off so raw.  Honestly, this is right where I want to hear Florence & The Machine.  But while it’s somber and bruised, there’s almost always seems a light at the end of the tunnel, feeling that Florence is beyond most of this.  Now, it certainly took a while for me to get into this groove of a much softer side of Florence & The Machine.  But Florence is far from done, as “Patricia” may just be one of the strongest showings here.  It starts off soulful and bluesy, but does work it’s way into a track with almost some old school Disco vibes.  But Florence’s gigantic vocals do this track so much justice, with some incredibly confident and almost feisty bars.  Honestly, I love it so much that I wish this went even deeper, these instrumentals could have been loads more lavish.  But if this is the route that Florence wants to too down, this really isn’t terrible.  However, “100 Years” is the sort of track I dread sadly.   This is by far the lightest and fluffiest track here, with nothing going along with Florence’s vocals.  To be honest, a sound like this wouldn’t be terrible in small doses.  Hell, there are some great moments here, teasing something big about to go down.  We get glimpses of epic drums and hand claps.  And yes, there are a few moments where it sounds like this track is about to take off.  And in case your wondering, yes, Florence’s performance is stunning.  But this track is just one massive tease, of something that easily could have been the biggest track here. 

Now, I said that I was about ready to have a little bit more of an elaborate track.  However, “The End Of Love” is one of the most breathtaking and truly stunning moments here.  This album has been fueled by passionate performances and personal lyrics.  But Florence here has honestly completely outdone herself with this tearjerking ballad.  This chorus absolutely soars, especially with just how minimal everything else is here.  Florence just gets deeper and deeper with us, diving into family history and more skeletons in her closet.  By the end of this one, I’m just exhausted for her to be honest.  It’s practically hypnotizing, especially with the snapping and steady instrumental.  All around, this is a show-stealer. But I feel like Florence took everything I truly loved about that last one and throws it out the window completely.  This is another stopped down Piano ballad, which on paper is just fine.  But of all the ballads here, I just feel like this one doesn’t add nearly as much to the album.  All of the lyrical Themes are wrapped up nicely.  But in times like this, I just really miss what Florence & The Machine were doing in their more elaborate days. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Give A Listen To: “June”, “Hunger”, “Grace”, “The End of Love”

Least Favorite Track: “100 Years”

Genre: Indie Pop / Indie Rock / Singer-Songwriter

Overall Thoughts:  More than anything this is basically a Florence Welch solo album.  A great majority of this album is just her and her piano, with usually a whole lot of nothing else going on. Which yes, on paper really doesn’t sound that bad.  And sure, that does lead to a lot immensely passionate and heartfelt tracks, that may just be Florence’s most personal yet.  There are moments here that just seem so incredibly raw.  For me though this album would have been a little more enjoyable if the instrumentals matched the intensity of Florence and her stories.  However, this certainly isn’t a bad album, and Florence’s incredibly open lyrics deserve all the credit in the world.