Florence + the Machine, the British band consisting of lead singer Florence Welch and Isabelle Summers, gained widespread recognition for their single "Dog Days Are Over" off their debut album, Lungs. [Since then, Florence Welch's band has released two more albums, their sophomore release /ceremonials and more recently, 2015's How Big How Blue How Beautiful. Florence's music is romantic, passionate, and aggressive altogether. Welcn has a unique songwriting craft; her lyrics are intelligent and illustrative, often using allusions and using entire songs as metaphors for real-life emotions. Her colorful lyrics are always bolstered by fervent instrumentation, transforming each song into a musical landscape rich with detail and emotion. They elevate the heartache, the love, the strengths and weaknesses we face in everyday life, bringing a sense of divinity about them. Here, in no particular order, are (in my opinion) Florence + the Machine's top ten tracks!
Drumming Song
"I run to the river and dive straight in/ I pray that the water will drown out the din"
Drumming Song is magnificent is the scope of how it magnifies the universal emotion of liking somebody. It revolves around the simple magnetization you feel towards that person when they are nearby, but "Drumming Song" takes that one emotion and turns it into something wonderfully complex with its fervent lyrics. The song continually builds up from beginning to end, adding layers and layers of instrumentation and harmonies for an emotion-packed, explosive finale which is catharsis at its finest. The minor background vocals and references to heaven and hell and churches give it gothic imagery. In the vein of that, the music video takes place in a church (Florence wanted to portray the idea of a seemingly virginal girl who actually had unseen, dramatic emotions waging inside her.)
How Big How Blue How Beautiful
"Meanwhile a man was falling from space/ And every day I wore your face/ Like an atmosphere around me"
The title track of their third album, "How Big How Blue How Beautiful" paints a gorgeous, vivid musical landscape, even through the title alone. Florence croons, “Every city was a gift/ And every skyline was like a kiss upon the lips”. The lyrics feature space and sky imagery, and near the end it goes into an extended orchestral arrangement, a multilayered serenade that sounds like it belongs in a film climax. The song describes the expansive feeling of falling in love, of how the whole entire world becomes majestic and regal and full of possibilities.
What The Water Gave Me
"And all this longing/ And the ships were left to rust/ That's what the what the water gave us"
This is a gorgeous song. Depicting the suicide of Virginia Woolf, "What The Water Gave Me" starts off as a somber ballad, the hymnal chorus washing through elevated verses. It wrestles with themes of love, life, and death. The end of the song erupts into a dramatic instrumentation.
Shake It Out
"And I am done with my graceless heart/ So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart"
One of the band’s most popular songs, Florence wrote “Shake It Out” while on a hangover, and it is a true, unadulterated anthem of freedom and letting go.
Cosmic Love
"I took the stars from my eyes and then I made a map/ And I knew that somehow i could find my way back"
Florence also wrote this piece while drunk (are we starting to see a pattern here?), and it is absolutely stunning. The imagery of the song is breathtaking: “No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight in the shadow of your heart”.
Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
"This is a gift, it comes with a price/ Who is the lamb and who is the knife?t"
Rabbit Heart is a dramatic, minor song with excellent songwriting. The lyrics allude to Alice In Wonderland and the story of King Midas, as well as making metaphors of animal sacrifice to the real-life sacrifices in taking chances and finding courage.
Swimming
"I tried to remember the chorus/ I can't remember the verse/ 'Cause that song that sent me swimming/ Is now the life jacket that burst"
An under-appreciated track from the Lungs B-sides, the entirety of “Swimming” is an extended metaphor. An orchestral arrangements backs up a throbbing, rock-tinged drumming rhythm. The strength and fierceness of her voice is more prominent than ever as she bellows the hook: “Your songs remind me of swimming, which I forgot when I started to sink!”
Spectrum (Say My Name)
"And when it's time to pray/ We'll be dressed up all in gray/ With metal on our tongues/ And silver in our lungs"
Spectrum is a song about enlightenment and a nod to the LGBT community and its fight. Quieter verses featuring color-related imagery and metaphors are interspersed by a thumping, empowering chorus. It was remixed by Calvin Harris.
Queen Of Peace
"And my love is no good against the fortress that it made of you"
Another song of Florence’s that elevates love to a majestic level, Florence describes the deterioration of a relationship as a battlefield chock-full with its kings and queens and princes. It opens with an orchestral arrangement reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, before the drum kicks in, allowing the song to be the rock stomper it was meant to be.
Third Eye
"'Cause your pain is a tribute/ The only thing you let hold you/ Wear it now like a mantle/ Always there to remind you"
An upbeat, hopeful song encouraging self-empowerment, Florence shouts with pure conviction, “You are flesh and blood!/ You deserve to be loved and you deserve what you’ve been given”. She acknoweledges the universal effects of human insecurities. A rare song off their discography written in a major key,in "Third Eye" Florence urges her fans to find "that original lifeline".
