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 - Never Let Me Go

One word bandied about a lot in relation to Florence + The Machine is ‘big’. It’s kind of inescapable – big vocals, big record sales, big performances. But Never Let Me Go not only feels justified of the ‘big’ moniker, but goes beyond it to become suffused in the very essence of what the word means. From its swaying gospel-tinged refrains to the pounding piano chords, it acts like a dazzling stained glass window to capture saint-like Florence in every aspect of her glory. Her recent Q magazine interview is fascinating too, the kind of feature that portrays an artist whose life and career you absolutely want to be a part of. Florence is the sort of artist and persona you want to dive into, to completely submerge yourself in and drink deep. An acquired taste no doubt, but one that in instances like Never Let Me Go, is the most refreshing, revitalising taste of life you can get.

Never Let Me Go is released on the 5^th April.

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.

Florence and the Machine - What The Water Gave Me

One of the nicest surprises in music is when an act that you previously weren't that fussed about comes back with something jaw-droppingly good and just completely blows you away.

It happened with Adele and her all-conquering 21 album. And it seems it could very easily happen to Florence Welch too.

While What The Water Gave Me doesn't have the ready made 'hit' feel of the likes of Dog Days Are Over, what it does most definitely have is an infinitely richer sense of production and fullness than anything on her first album did.

Everything about the song feels richer, more lush, more involving. From its subtle, gentle beginnings, soaring up into its epic, sky-piercing chorus, the song is quite simply beautiful.

The bass positively purrs as it creeps back and forth beneath the classic Florence blend of harp, piano and other assorted bits and bobs that help conjure up that spider's web of musical foundations.

Best though is when the track takes on a satisfyingly weighty rock punch, the bass strumming faster and faster as it flies into the final chorus.

It's like the sunrise breaking free on the grimmest, most grey of rainy days - the glorious radiance of pure heat and light bursting through to envelop the listener in a wash of pretty noise and an inspired guitar outro. Perfect.

What The Water Gave Me is available to download from iTunes now.

Austra - Feel It Break

Toronto based trio Austra are a delicate creature - lead singer Katie Stelmanis coming very much from the Florence & The Machine line of affairs, her vocals imbued with that same capacity for intense power; that almost spiritual quality.

The band's music couldn't be further away from good old Florence and Co. though - enter sparkling, energetic synth workouts that sound like they've been conjured up on old eighties hardware dug out of someone's attic. There's mystique here aplenty, an almost baroque, hand-crafted quality - have a listen to standout track Lose It from the band's debut Feel It Break and you'll hear it straight away.

As the titles make clear, this is a record centred around loss and things falling apart - every part of Lose It feeling so tender and like it could shatter in a stiff breeze, only for Katie's vocal to blast through, reinforcing and strengthening again. Mixed by Damian Taylor of Bjork and UNKLE fame, it bears a similar richness and air of innovation as these artists.

It's well worth checking out the mix of her track Beat and the Pulse available to download freely on her website too - all atmospheric, darkly pulsating electronics, it's dance it its most moody and intense. The vocals are kept to a minimum, tweaked into haunting siren-like calls that snake their way around the rubbery bassline.

There's a sense of space, of a vast expanse longing to be filled with emotion - this is a cold, almost icy record; but those vocals come almost as a cry for human contact, a longing to be touched and manipulated.

Feel It Break is out now and available to purchase here.


Austra - Beat and the Pulse (Steffi Bass Break Dub) by DominoRecordCo