Florence + The Machine’s new album will make you dance-and feel.
Florence + The Machine have a new album released on May 13th called Dance Fever and for weeks we’ve been privy to a few samples from this young future icon of women/femmes in rock. Finally this delightful and mythical album has dropped and it does not disappoint. In true Florence style, we travel myriad musical styles and strategies that serve to punctuate her vocals and words.
The album opens with King, a relaxed heartbeat for the drums and bass. Florence talks in this song about ambition, dreams, and life goals. She speaks on femme expectations and where her life has lead and how her inner darkness fuels what she succeeds at with a warrior king spirit. The vocals express a pain in this song tinged with resolve. King ends itself with beautiful finger-plucked acoustic strings and Florence’s soaring vocal embellishments before settling into talking about her own self-aggrandizement and perfectionism in her music. She seems to feel the music pulls her along despite how she thinks of what she creates.
Next is Free. A bit more up-tempo and electronic. She adores her handclaps along with a gentle violin accentuating the melody. She wonders about being medicated but she clearly has her music for what she says “picks me up, puts me down”. She rides the daily rollercoasters of the fire inside her to create and write music. Performing music is her medication and therapy. A very danceable track that makes you want to spin in the yard until you fall. Open your arms in response to Florence giving you all that she is.
Choreomania begins with hand claps and light digital piano in a wave of pops and later adds a wispy snare. Choreomania is about the ritual of women/femmes dancing themselves to the point of exhaustion. The lyrics speak on the decline of rock music in the eyes of purists and how resurrecting it outside of the purist expectations would be like Jesus coming back in a dress. The evangelicals wouldn’t care about what their savior wore but that he’s back.
In an abrupt end to the previous song, we slip oddly seemless into Back In Town with a gentle acapella choir and Florence’s sober voice piercing the choir. She’s speaking on her creative high as the pandemic hit and as much as making such biographical music is a release, it hurts baring oneself so naked. For singers, sometimes lyrics hit in a special way-resonate a bit differently. Such a simple lyric is: “I came for the pleasure, but stayed, yes I stayed for pain.” Within the context of this song, it rings with depth and poignance. We end this track with the choir fading into the black.
Throughout this album there are mystical themes and mythological references to be enjoyed. Florence seems to delight in giving the listener many facets to explore in her lyrics. Hopefully, this gives you-the reader-a whetted appetite for the rest of the album!
