The much-anticipated third studio long-player from Florence Welch and her mechanically inclined companions, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful arrives after a period of recalibration for the spirited English songtress. Arriving three-and-a-half years after 2011's well-received Ceremonials, the 11-track set, the first Florence + the Machine album to be produced by Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay), eschews some of the bombast and water- and death-fixated metaphors of Lungs and Ceremonials in favor of a more restrained sonic scope and an honest reckoning with the dark follies of your late twenties. This change is most notable on the workmanlike opener "Ship to Wreck," a shimmering, open road-ready folk-rock rumination on the ambiguity/inevitability of post-fame self-destruction that, unlike prior first cuts like "Dog Days Are Over" and "Only If for a Night," feels firmly rooted in the now. The bluesy (and ballsy) "What a Man," the propulsive and purposeful "Delilah," and the gorgeous title track impress the most. Instead of building to a fevered crescendo, as is the Flo-Machine way, the latter cut, a transcendent, slow-burning, chamber pop gem, dissolves into a simple and elegant, yet still goose-bump-inducing round of horns, and is breathtaking without knocking the wind out of you. ~ James Christopher Monger
- Format: Vinyl
- 2 LP
- Genre: Rock, Pop
- Remember, for our lowest prices, always order directly from Joco Records!
Track Listing:
A1 Ship To Wreck 3:54
A2 What Kind Of Man 3:36
B1 How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful 5:34
B2 Queen Of Peace 5:07
B3 Various Storms & Saints 4:09
C1 Delilah 4:53
C2 Long & Lost 3:15
C3 Caught 4:24
D1 Third Eye 4:20
D2 St. Jude 3:45
D3 Mother 5:52
