Album of the Week: Florence and the Machine, 'How Big How Blue How Beautiful'
by Jade
June 01, 2015
Never one to shy away from orchestrated and dramatic intensity, Florence Welch brings a focused nuance to How Big How Blue How Beautiful. Taking a lesson from Taylor Swift (no, really), Florence channeled her emotions and thoughts from her broken romance and exhausting year into deeply personal music. This focus takes us through the arc of a broken heart: getting caught up in the storm, dragging us through the mud, pulled ashore by strong waves and building a ship just to wreck it.
As far as origin stories goes, Florence has a pretty great one: club kid dreams of being a star, finds out big producer is in said club one night, corners the producer in the bathroom and astounds producer with her powerful voice, is immediately signed and gains dreamed-of fame. That fame tossed Florence (and the Machine) into the U.S. charts with her first album, Lungs, in 2009 and the unanticipated downside of fame that came with it. Florence put out the slightly less impressive Ceremonials in 2011 and dealt with the pains of constant touring and the toll that takes on relationships back home. Taking time off to reevaluate the lost relationship and her career, a conversation with Swift inspired Florence to put more of her personal life into her music. That brings us to the new album from Florence and the Machine: How Big How Blue How Beautiful.
The latest album feels more cohesive and thematic than the previous two albums. Florence is at her most dramatic: the album is an allegory of personal disintegration. With allusions to Delilah (who the Hebrew bible said Samson loved, and created his downfall), St. Jude (who Florence calls out to as the patron saint of lost causes), Lot's Wife (who looked back on Sodom and turned into a pillar of salt), Persephone (who carries out the curses of men on the dead), and a queen trying to keep the peace after a losing battle. That's some heavy stuff. Florence is putting herself through the wringer for all of her past deeds gone wrong — can someone who did so many wrongs find redemption?
The album takes the listener through the stages of grief. Starting How Big How Blue How Beautiful is the heaviest song, a pulsating and aggressive, "Ship to Wreck." Florence's wail is at full-tilt asking, "Did I drink too much? Am I losing touch? Did I build a ship to wreck?" It is the song that fans of Florence and the Machine's previous albums will love. It builds, sways and crashes at just the right pace. She puts her powerful larynx through a workout on the following track "What Kind of Man": an organ hums softly then a guitar kicks in followed by heavy drums and horns as Florence shouts out accusations of letting her "dangle at a cruel angle." After dealing with a little more denial, anger, and bargaining, the songs shift to depression and acceptance with "St. Jude." It's a quiet moment on the album, with light vocals — delicate and soft as she ponders "another battle never won/ and each side a loser" and she's "trying to find the meaning."
So, will you like it? If you liked the last two albums from Florence and the Machine, yes. Everything you loved before is here, with more focus and direction. Did you just suffer a loss and are trying to recover? There's probably something in here for you too. It's a beautifully crafted, emotional album with a full-on 70s Stevie Nicks vibe. How Big How Blue How Beautiful is Florence Welch underlined and with an exclamation mark.