It's been nearly four years since Florence + the Machine wowed me with their superb second album Ceremonials and I was looking forward to what the future would bring. Sure, I missed all of the singles for How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful because of life, the universe and everything, but I had hopes that the band could deliver another stellar entry in a congested quarter of other big releases.
Never did I expect something like this.
How Big,... starts off with the uptempo indie rock number Ship to Wreck, it's easy on the ears, has a gorgeous vocal hook and a simple arrangement. Following up are What Kind of Man and the title-track; more radio-friendly-unit-shifters, the former a notch harder with the latter utilising horns for distinction.
Had the album consisted of this, this would have been a decent if samey follow-up, formulaic but enjoyable nonetheless.
But How Big,... is nothing of the sort. The album quickly stagnates and hits fatigue, often with uninspiring and dull results. Whilst I've never had a problem with the bands track lengths, here they sound either stretched beyond comprehension or have been added because the album needed to be released after four years and those tickboxes won't tick themselves.
You could argue that it's downhill from the title-track which is an enjoyable three minute song turned into a five minute trudge, but Queen of Peace cements this with a near-identical reiteration of the title-track but nowhere near as impressive. Various Storms & Saints in the meanwhile, deceptively builds for what desperately wants to be a loud anthem, but instead remains a quiet ballad with no percussion to carry the tune and it's four minutes of nothing.
A sense of the dread fills when you realise how much of a stepback this is from Lungs and Ceremonials, you think the record might pick up, but it never really does. The hallmarks of a good record is when the good tracks outshine the rest, an average-bad is where even the highlights are lost to the rest and by St Jude, you realise it's that with How Big,....
The closer is another tell-tell sign of how far we've fallen. Whereas before we had the superb Leave My Body and before that, the amazing cover of You've Got the Love, here we have Mother; a stripped back, intentionally lo-fi trudge which builds for a deservedly crashing finalé, which it does, but subsequently keeps the low quality beat and distortion below the big vocal number, in stark contrast to the rest of the record which carries the big band swagger throughout.
If you've wondered why I've barely mentioned Welch's vocals, it's a given at this point that her voice is strong, distinct and one of the genuine high points of the record. Had this album featured anyone else, it would imploded from the first quarter and be even more underwhelming. Whilst she does have some nice moments to shine or alternatively explode; it's all familiar at this point and if doubly damning are the lack of any interesting lyrics to journey us through to the bigger vocal numbers.
I desperately wanted to like this record but was drained by the end. I was so underwhelmed that I found myself immediately going back to Ceremonials and Lungs, just incase I had it all wrong for nearly a decade. Thankfully, those albums still sounds fantastic and showcased even more faults with this one.
Compared to the previous two albums, How Big,... is an unashamed bore. It has a few highlights that are sadly relegated to the beginning of the record and set standards that simply aren't matched. I'd go as far to say that it almost sounds like a different band, inspired by Florence + the Machine's previous back catalogue and even redeveloped some of their signature style, but then realised the record didn't need percussion or interesting lyrics and went off the rails.
Like me, if you enjoyed the bands previous outputs, there will be something here, buried amongst an upheaval of filler to enjoy, but as a collective piece; it's a thoroughly average and tiresome album that desperately needed trimming, songs replacing and a massive overhaul to match the high standards set from before.
And much like last time I end this review asking what I asked for Ceremonials; But maybe that's what the future holds?
5/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
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