Florence and the Machine‘s new album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released last week. To help build giddy anticipation, my editor at hmv.com/ca asked for a piece on the UK band, as part of the site’s Where to Start With… series.
Writing the piece was fun, and a crash-course in all things Florence. I’d been on-board with the first album, Lungs, but kind of lost track subsequently, so I enjoyed catching up on tracks from the second record, as well as the early singles from the new record and non-album tracks like the Calvin Harris and Dizzee Rascal collabs (especially the latter).
Check out the piece, which includes videos for the above tracks plus a bunch more, at hmv.com/ca.
I was also reminded of the time I saw Florence and the Machine, five years ago at the Commodore here in Vancouver. Reading over my review, I see some things I like (the thing about asking her to follow me on Twitter), and some not so much (“soulful pop juggernauts” is one of those pop-music-reviewer-type phrases that always make me cringe when I encounter them in my own writing). The pics, by Lana Maytak, are pretty good, and capture the spirit of the show, I think.
You can see the review and photos at thesnipenews.com.