- “Dark days are over with her stunning new album” - Sunday Times Culture
- “A force of nature” - The Observer
- “Florence Welch’s wonderful fourth album marks the realisation of a singular talent” - The Telegraph *****
Florence + the Machine's stunning new album, 'High As Hope', is released today (Virgin EMI).
Featuring the anthemic single 'Hunger', 'Sky Full Of Song', and 'Big God' (which was released last week alongside an iconic video choreographed by Akram Khan and Florence), 'High As Hope' already has the feel of a career-defining moment for Florence. Florence started writing the record (which is also the first she has officially co-produced) in solitude in South London, routinely cycling to her studio in Peckham every day to, as she puts it, “bang on the wall with sticks”. She took the songs to Los Angeles with her friend and co-producer Emile Haynie, opening them up along the way for collaboration with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Sampha, Tobias Jesso Jr, Kelsey Lu and Jamie xx. Florence mixed the record in New York, where the daily, reassuring view of that iconic skyline – often in stark contrast to the chaos of the wider world - gave the album its upbeat title.
What’s emerged - ‘High As Hope’ - is the sound of an artist who appears more certain than ever of herself. Florence writes now about her teens and twenties with a renewed, more mature perspective: of growing up in South London, of family, relationships and art itself. For perhaps the first time, ‘High As Hope’ is a record that is as intimate as it is epic, with the more restrained sound - relatively speaking; Florence knows herself well enough now to declare “I’m never going to be minimal” - mirroring this sense that happiness doesn’t always have to be big and dramatic: it can often be found in the mundane, in the everyday things that aren’t always celebrated in songs. “There’s a lot of love in this record, loneliness too, but a lot of love.”
An album that mixes high and low – from a tribute to Patti Smith one minute to being ghosted over text by a date the next – ‘High As Hope’ is made up, says Florence, “of joy and fury”…but with the joy arguably winning out, in the end. “It’s always a work in progress, and I definitely don’t have everything figured out. But this feels like quite a pure expression of who I am now, as an artist, and an honest one. I’m just more comfortable with who I am.” And that is the beginning of a far longer journey of Florence Welch.
‘High As Hope’ so far has peaked #1 on iTunes in 46 countries, including Belgium! The album holds a place in thetop 10 iTunes charts in 71 countries.
TRACKLISTING
1. June
2. Hunger
3. South London Forever
4. Big God
5. Sky Full of Song
6. Grace
7. Patricia
8. 100 Years
9. The End of Love
10. No Choir