I pictured her sitting at an antique coffee table in a white wooden table chair with green fairies painted on it, sipping on some green tea with her messy red hair trailing down her pale white cheeks as she scribbled some gloriously dramatic lyrics onto a bar napkin she stuffed in her purse after leaving dinner the night before. This is what I have envisioned Florence Welch has been doing for the past four years or so. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong…who knows?
Florence + the Machine announced this week that they are back!! Oh my goodness I have been waiting FOREVER for this moment. Being a huge F+TM fan myself, I am so so excited for this new album. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful will be the third album from this eclectic bunch. They also released the music video for the first single called “What Kind of Man” and it is phenomenal. Reminiscent of “Kiss With A Fist” due to the feisty angst in Florence’s voice, but with age comes a fuller vocal range and a greater sense of musicality. Not to mention a highly artistic point of view as we see in the music video.
This video begins by showcasing a casual yet powerful conversation that takes place between a couple. The man tells the woman that she was having a nightmare and she gets angry that he didn’t wake her up, “I didn’t want to intervene. It seemed like you were suffering somewhere else. I didn’t think it was my place to drag you out of it so I just let you be,” he said. She replies with, “So you just let me suffer? So you think that people who suffer together would be more connected than people who are content?” He agrees and says, “I do.” I think this is often a question we don’t think about, but it’s interesting when you do take the time to think about it.
The song seems to about a long term relationship and the lack of commitment throughout it; “And with one kiss/ you inspired a fire of devotion/ that lasted twenty years.” But also the intoxicating element that comes with love, sparks a lot of the inspiration behind the song; “I already had a sip/ so I’d reasoned I was drunk enough to deal with it.” A theme we often hear about, but Florence makes it more dramatic when she sings the words, “What kind of man loves like this?” Almost posing the question, “How could a human being actually love like this?”
photo via bing.com
I’m surprised by this electrifying intro to this new album cycle for Florence & the Machine, but I’m also not because everything this band does is never half-assed (for lack of a better phrase). The music is always top notch quality with stellar lyrics that you want tattooed on your entire being for the world to see. I hear more guitar-driven rock, a beautiful horn line, hard lyrics, and spunky tambourine on this track which transcends perfectly into where music is heading these days. The music scene seems to be going back to the basics, focusing more on the different elements of music. No more crap. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful has to be good. It just has to. The worst part? We have to wait until June 2….
-Abbey
Music blogger 