"High as Hope" of Florence and the Machine ruminate on the love, the loss



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Grade: 4.0 / 5.0

The new album from Florence and the Machine High As Hope relies mainly on the vocalization of Florence Welch, although the album has been described as a version more stripped of its the sound, the effect is still incredibly rich. Emotional lamentations and powerful belts that are so meaningful Welch is everywhere. Although the songs never reach the dramatic heights of "Cosmic Love" or "Breath Of Life", the sound of this album is not so restricted as it is deliberately contained. Power and energy are always present and detectable, but it is not allowed to rise to the surface almost as often. This choice is understandable given the subject of the album, namely, grief, trauma and personal demons.

Welch's music is best described as ethereal, from another world, and these descriptors are certainly true of High As Hope . However, the sound of this album is also deeply human and banal. The songs speak of loneliness, sorrow and death. One of the first titles considered for the album – "The End of Love" – ​​speaks of the duality of this album. Although it's ultimately a story of Welch's philosophy of hope, she must describe the difficulties that made this philosophy so much needed, so hard won. In an interview with Universal Music, Welch talked about the end of love as a title. She said, "I was going to call it" The End of Love, "which I actually saw as a positive thing because it was the end of a kind from needy love, it was the end of a love that comes from a place of lack. "

The second title of the album," Hunger, "gives a glimpse of this needlessness and lack.Welch describes all the places where she sought love without finding it, and how she ended By associating love with emptiness, loneliness. "Hunger" starts angry, energetic, and deeply personal. <br /> <br /> In the first line, Welch refers to a eating disorder with which she s & # 39; is debated as a teenager, associating this hunger with her confused vision of love, describing how she ended up believing that love was supposed to leave you empty.

The way Welch plays with the Space concept in his lyrics is fascinating.It speaks of emptiness and loneliness, but what is even more intriguing is the way the songs allude to his struggle against the space that In "Big God", she sings "You need a big god / big enough to hold your love "and" big enough to fill you up. "Although the album speaks of emptiness, it is written from the point of view of someone who began learning to fill that void

The motive for the physical space extends to the directional descriptors used in the album. The top is used to refer to being high or high on medications, depending on the line. It is unclear what definition of high is used in the title, an ambiguity that seems intentional and in character with the rest of the album.

"No Choir" is the star of the album. Musically, it's similar to the opening song "June" – a calm and moving ballad built on Welch's voice and a piano accompaniment. In the last song, Welch finds a form of catharsis by accepting that, in fact, a catharsis does not exist. Where "June" implores the listeners of "Hang on", "No Choir" admits that "loneliness never left". The song derives its title from Welch's assertion that there are no choruses, no refrains. Despite this, the enduring message of the album is still that of hope. Welch no longer believes that love should be a painful and diminishing thing. However, she keeps the confinement at the very end.

As Welch said, this album is about finding a love that does not come from a place of lack. However, she does not abandon so much that failure as learning to carry with it and to ask it if necessary.

Contact Danielle Hilborn in [email protected].

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