FLORENCE + THE MACHINE HIGH AS HOPE

FOR a very talented artiste in both performing and songwriting, it’s always a celebration when Florence Welch releases any new material. Along with her haunting voice comes haunting lyrics, poetic sometimes to the point of insanity, and she follows the same beaten path on her fourth album, one that many say, displays the very best of Florence.

Don’t be fooled by the title, Hope indeed can give you a high, but the crash can be quite an avalanche of emotion. And that is a currency that Florence knows all about, pulling you up and down along with her, a journey that she has been through in the recent past, as a newly-sober Florence is keen to remind everyone.

Her sobriety has also led to a much clearer, more cynical and pragmatic view of the world. Her days of partying and living life with wild abandon are well behind her now, and it’s as if her clear vision has led to a clearer sound in her music. Gone are the over-the-top percussions and screams her fans have grown to love, and instead you imagine her in a trance-like state while performing these songs.

By the end of the album, you get the sense that there was a time when worrying for Florence would not have been out of place. But even if “the loneliness never left me”, as she sings in No Choir, she seems to have come to terms with herself, and it has done wonders for her music.

Rating: 5/5