Written By Ava Schulte
I was raised in a Florence + The Machine household, introduced at a young age by my father who claimed she was another “powerful rage filled woman” for me to learn from. And then onwards, my buddy Charleigh (Charlemagne for short) and I would send each other songs daily and bonded over the alarming cover of the album Lungs. But then Lungs continued to grow with me. When I got in my car, a Lungs CD was the first album I put in and listened to it until my brother begged me to stop, which I did begrudgingly. And I certainly was not the only person entranced by this playful unique album. It won British Album of the Year and sold over 3 million copies worldwide. And the leading lady, Florence Welch, is the genius behind all of it. Her otherworldly voice and captivating lyrics combined with the rich and strangely mystical musical accompaniment lead to a high bar to top with the next album. However, I found the next four largely disappointing with a few nuggets of gold reminiscent of her first masterpiece. So when her next album Everybody Scream was announced expectations weren’t high. I was blown away. A triumphant earnest commentary on the trails of showman life unlike the other failures of recently similar ideas (cough cough Taylor Swift). It is masterful and soul crushing showing the interworking of this genius. A return to her eerie political and social commentary in the form of vivid imagery and remorseful metaphors. Many songs on this album in particular felt very reminiscent of other “powerful rage filled women” and I found the tone consistent and fitting. The song “Perfume and Milk” was very much like a PJ Harvey song and much of the other instrumentation was Tori Amos adjacent to my great joy. My favorite song of the album has to be “Buckle”. It’s full of yearning and very human pain and catchy to boot. Overall, pleasantly surprised and absolutely worth a listen. And I am going to do anything in my power to catch one of her shows next year.