Florence and The Machine - Ceremonials

Florence and the Machine - It's been a pretty phenomenal couple of years for Florence Welch since the release of her debut album Lungs. A Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. A Brit Award for Best Album. Over three million albums sold (including over 800k in the U.S.). A groundbreaking hit with "Dog Days Are Over." New, highly anticipated project plays on what Welch has called her own "incorrigible maximalism" with an even bigger, bolder reach and continuing deft balance of artsy, thunderous drama and dreamscaped pop sensibilities // Release: Ceremonials (November 1, Universal) // Sounds like: Unlike the dance and hip-hop driven drivel diminishing the female-led pop in the U.S., this is a spectacular, uniquely British sound, massive and mature, drawing on prog/rock, glam and music hall theatrics to superb effect..."as big and as powerful as we could go" she says of the album's sound, produced with collaborator Paul Epworth, best known for his work with Adele...

Quote: "This is the first time I've made a record with a sort of overarching, cohesive sound...It's a proper studio album in that sense: a group of songs that paint a unified picture of where I am in my life right now." // What we like: New single "No Light, No Light" has a celestial, hymn-like feel, packing more densely layered, rhythmic clatter and killer melodic hooks into four and half minutes than anything we've heard in recent memory...the grand "Leave My Body" sounds like it was lifted from some modern Broadway rock musical, cascading choruses and symphonic scope brought to earth by Welch's surprisingly soulful vocals...the overwhelming, occasionally overstuffed sonic arc of Ceremonials, complete with the massive choirs -- why have one voice when you can have hundreds? -- and heavily electronic, reverbed and larger-than-life production scale can be a heavy lift on first take but fortunately the songs and melodies at the core are up to the magnified -- and magnificent sounding -- end result...

Florence and the Machine - "No Light, No Light" (from Ceremonials)

Florence and the Machine - "Never Let Me Go" (from Ceremonials)