‘Shake It Out’ bodes well for Florence Welch’s forthcoming album Celebrations. Coming after the equally great ‘What The Water Gave Me’, the song showcases an artist who has had access to big label money for her much-anticipated second album and chose to use it to serve the songs rather than hiring David Guetta or something (Paul Epworth produces).
‘Shake It Out’ is a big crashing ballad with a grandiose disposition coming from Florence and backing vocals rather than the instrumentation. Sure, there are big drums and production, but it maintain’s the thing that Florence’s music has always had – heart.
Where the less successful Marina saw the second album as a time to grab a piece of the pie and dumb down in a bid to the top, Florence does no such thing. She sticks to her guns and writes better and bigger songs without sacrificing what made Lungs so appealing.
Florence + The Machine – Shake it Out
Ceremonials is out October 28th through Island records in standard 12-track and 20-track deluxe versions.
Tracklisting
1. Only If For A Night
2. Shake It Out
3. What The Water Gave Me
4. Never Let Me Go
5. Breaking Down
6. Lover To Lover
7. No Light, No Light
8. Seven Devils
9. Heartlines
10. Spectrum
11. All This And Heaven Too
12. Leave My Body
‘Ceremonials’ Deluxe additional:
13. Remain Nameless
14. Strangeness & Charm
15. Bedroom Hymns
16. What The Water Gave Me (demo)
17. Landscape (demo)
18. Heartlines (acoustic)
19. Shake It Out (acoustic)
20. Breaking Down (acoustic)
I don’t think Marina has dumbed down at all. If anything she is the one who has taken a risk and also shown that the more mainstream sound out there can be done well when the lyrics have some meaning and soul to them. I think the dance production is euphoric paired with Marina’s heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics and makes for a great pop song. The new Florence stuff is just a re-hash of old. Not bad, but not exactly groundbreaking or interesting.
Marina has made it very clear in interviews she wants to be a big pop star. So what does she do? Go the generic dance route that everyone else is doing at the moment losing the things that make her music unique.
Sure Marina’s song is a risk (one I don’t think will pay off at the moment judging on what I’ve heard but we’ll see). That mainstream sound on “Radioactive’ is just so uninspired so while her vocals sound good, it sounds like she’s trying to fit in to a mould she wasn’t a part of in the first place so it loses its authenticity for me.
@nialler9:disqus The generic rave-pop production of ‘Radiocative’ is pretty awful. Marina is obviously very talented so maybe she’s just playing a game, but she’s not winning at this point.
In other news, the internet (@disco_naivete) says The Weeknd is remixing ‘Shake It Out’ – all my favourite Florence songs are remixes.
Her voice is almost as annoying as David Guetta. She attacks every song way too much it’s like listening to Christina Aguelera or Beyonce for a full album it just gets exhausting.
She is overrated en mi opinion. Her wavering voice makes me want to go listen to Buffy Sainte Marie though.