FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE
October 6, 2011 | SOUND | Posted by lisa |
In 2009, Florence Welch and her Machine dropped Lungs onto an unsuspecting public. Every single released from the album drew massive amounts of professional kudos and audience love; their first time around to our own shores, for instance, they played the massive Palace in Melbourne, to say the least.
One would suspect that after the epic success of Lungs and its song-children (their cover of You’ve Got the Love, especially, was all over radios, like white on rice), that Florence and the Machine would have “difficult second album” impotency; not so, if first official single and video Shake It Out is anything to go by.
Shake it Out is the first release from new album, Ceremonials, due to be released at October’s end this year. Produced by Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Jack Penate, Adele, The Rapture), it promises not to disappoint. Many have already heard What the Water Gave Me, a teaser track released to whet the fans’ collective appetite and, although …Water is a sprawling, haunting ode as only Florence and friends can do so, Shake It Out is of the masterful, orchestral, cataclysmic nature that Machine fans so adore. The video is a whirlwind, 1920′s-era masquerade party with a lot of redheaded twirling and euphoric drops.
Judge for yourself and keep an eye out for Ceremonials around Halloween.
Words: Lisa Dib
Florence Welch image by Chris Brooks.