Everybody Scream is the sixth album by Florence Welch‘s band and her “machine.”
After the excellent Dance Fever in 2022, there was a need for change, which did indeed happen, but in a more substantial than formal way, a subtle change that almost subverts the path traced so far by the British band. Although Dance Fever paved the way for the new album, proposing the theme of “choreomania,” that is, an ecstatic dance that drags people to exhaustion and death, there was often a feeling that it was a carefully planned operation, albeit masterfully executed.
Florence + the Machine new album
Now, Florence Welch‘s recent personal experiences have made the result of Everybody Scream as painfully real as one can imagine. Without going into details, we know that Welch risked her life during the 2023 tour due to a miscarriage, and this experience, as one might expect, left deep, real, vivid scars. Being so close to death in the hope of giving life radically changes one’s perception of existence.
The inner diary of Florence + the Machine
This theme recurs, transfigured, throughout the album, which appears as a sort of inner diary of the English singer. For this reason, we find ourselves faced with a dark, profound, painful work, supported by a sea of words, so much so that in some places the songs become almost discursive. The powerful title track opens this full-length album. The rhythm accompanies the singing, and a counterpoint by the female choir of the “Deep Throat Choir” creates a play of vocal references that are sometimes cadenced and sometimes shouted.
Capturing pain in music in Florence + the Machine
It is a shamanic, liberating, cathartic song. Suffering takes on imaginative forms, transforming itself into witchcraft, into the lunar and feminine power hidden in every woman. It is an original song that immediately captures the listener’s attention, so much so that it was the first single released to promote the album. But the following track already changes register: One Of The Greats is a long, painful song that seems to capture Welch‘s painful experience with a few words, along with some reflections on her life and art, as well as on the disparity that exists in the music world between men and women.
Between Led Zeppelin and Patti Smith
The song is almost descriptive of a state of mind and has a sort of growing tension that never explodes, an urban aftertaste that brings to mind some pages of Velvet Underground and Patti Smith, made even more pronounced here by the guitar of Mark Bowen of Idles, who appears as a guest. But even if the colors of the palette change, it is the shadows that dominate the following tracks. Witch Dance surprises with an almost motorik hypnotic rhythm, then flows into a more melodic and reflective solution. In the background are the disturbing voices that Welch heard on the threshold of the doors of great fear. The melody of Sympathy Magic begins with reverberating harp and guitar sounds that somehow evoke the organ of Zeppelin‘s Thank You, then gives way to a catchy, once again choral, but more relaxed track.
Yet another page from a torn diary
Parfume and Milk, with a certain folk vibe, is yet another page from a torn diary whose sheets are carried away by the wind, with an underlying tension that resolves itself into a narrative contained in many words, fragments of an experience that turn into poetry as everything slowly fades away. The same goes for the following Buckle, folk and almost country, continuing a personal narrative that transforms from everyday life into mystery, of things left unsaid in the overly said. In Kraken, it is one’s own body that transforms, in a state of estrangement from itself, while once again a sustained, mechanical rhythm, driven by a guitar, creates the tension. Something Must Break was a song by Joy Division, but this does not happen in this track. Everything seems to fold in on itself, imploding in its own desperate reflection. The beautiful melody of The Old Religion envelops us completely, and Welch’s voice captivates us in a spell that we would never want to break.
The initiation of a magical ritual from Florence + the Machine
But it is with the following track that we are initiated into a magical ritual. Mysterious sounds open the enigmatic and profound Drink Deep, a metaphorical journey in search of a hidden people who are actually part of one’s deepest personality. The truly evocative singing vibrates like a Tim Buckley song in a lower key, and our bodies also vibrate to these notes. The sweetness of the ballad Music By Men has a 70s feel to it, but it is a heartbreaking song about the disillusionment of lost love, and once again reflects the most intimate Tim Buckley, that of Happy Sad, which I find in these notes. But the next step is a really important one for the band: You Can Have It All, in which the growing tension explodes into one of Florence Welch’s most incredible vocal performances. The song is so powerful, both poetically and musically, that it cannot be sustained for long. Your heart might burst.
Closing words
The album closes with the relaxed And Love, where the sound of the harp, Machine‘s main instrument, accompanies an evocation of peace after so much pain. Catharsis has occurred; all the magic and witchcraft formulas were actually metaphors for suffering seeking a way out of the protagonist’s body and mind. Florence + The Machine have given us a page of great music, taking us down unexpected paths. A cross-genre project that miraculously manages to balance between mainstream and indie rock without straying to either side, stubbornly remaining true to itself. A journey into the mystery of inner life, which remains hidden but which, from time to time, manifests itself in ever new and astonishing forms.
Tracklist
- Everybody Scream
- One Of The Greats
- Witch Dance
- Sympathy Magic
- Perfume And Milk
- Buckle
- Kraken
- The Old Religion
- Drink Deep
- Music By Men
- You Can Have It All
- And Love
You can read the Italian version of this review at VeroRock.it