Florence + The Machine - Spectrum

Can we start calling Florence Welch a national treasure yet? If ever an album could be said to have elevated its progenitor to such immense levels of public adoration (Adele aside), then Florence + The Machine’s rapturously received Ceremonials is it. New single Spectrum’s charm is that it combines the belting tour-de-force vocals you’d expect from dear Florence as global pop superstar with a more animalistic rawness that characterised her debut album Lungs. When Florence sends out that blasting, wind-shearing cry of ‘Say my name!’ over a backing of cherub-plucked harps, you know that all eyes are on her, an angelic figure of baroque quasi-renaissance allure. So, whether it be in its five minute album version glory or as a showcase piece on US X Factor, Spectrum is classic Florence, set to dazzle and awe in abundant degrees of magnificence.

Spectrum is scheduled for a June release.

Florence + The Machine - No Light, No Light

With Florence + The Machine, epic-ness is assured. But what I love most about new single No Light No Light is that it sees a welcome return to the more melody driven approach of Florence's debut album.

One of the few criticisms levelled at her Ceremonials album was that at times it felt like Florence on autopilot, hollering away at full-pelt, annihilating any sense of actual 'tune' beneath the vocals. Slabs of vocal talent these new songs without doubt were, but where was the enduring appeal of gems like Dog Days Are Over?

No Light No Light takes the best of approaches, a little bit from all of Florence's most attractive pools of influence - massive church organ, bewitching, semi-baroque soundscapes, a veritable richness of wall-like sound that towers above the listener like the Tower of Bable.

It's an epiphanic experience, and it is here that Florence can truly bring those all-powerful vocals to bear properly. The result, an earth-shatteringly good track that manages to back up every accolade and sales tally Ceremonials has already achieved.

No Light No Light is released on the 16th January.