Ceremonials [+Video]

Lungs was one of my favourite albums from the past couple of years, so when Ceremonials was released I just had to buy it straight away.

On first listening I think I was just overwhelmed by the "wall of sound" production running through the entire album and to be honest I was slightly worried that nothing really stood out to me. That was a week ago. After a week and numerous listens to both individual tracks and to the album as a whole almost every song has grown on me so much that I can't get a couple of them out of my head.

Make sure if you can, to listen to the album on a good set of speakers or very good quality headphones. The initial wall of sound is actually much more subtle than you first think, with multiple levels of overlaid tracks and vocals that you can pick out and follow individually. There is also subtle use made of almost sub-sonic bass frequencies that you almost feel rather than hear. The album also sounds terrific when played loud!

As others have said, this is not Lungs II. Although every track is a big production with soaring gospel style backing in several songs, the lyrics actually have quite dark undertones. The strange noises at the beginning or end of some tracks or in some cases running through the track also adds to the slight feeling of unease/hidden menace that seems to run through whole album. If I had to pick a stand-out track, I would personally pick Heartlines - from the haunting sounds at the beginning to the crash of the bass drums and the multiply overlaid vocals in the chorus to the single note finish, this song is totally stuck on repeat in my head.

Overall: - 5 stars - This album needed a bit of time to grow on me, but grow on my it has in a very big way. Give it a chance and I am sure it will grow on you too!

Having listened to this album now a few times it seems to me many music commentators have brushed but not experienced the album and as such it has been underrated.

This certainly isn't Lungs, or Lungs Pt 2, but that's actually a good thing; Ceremonials is much more of an personable album than Lungs was. The big difference between Lungs & Ceremonials is that Ceremonials like a well aged wine needs that little extra attention to get the best out of it, but in giving it that little extra attention it'll take you on an intense journey that's unrivalled by any other album I've listened to this year thus far.

Much of the album is powerfully sung and as a consequence it doesn't have as many of the soft vulnerable moments as we're used to seeing from Florence's music but that doesn't detract from the listening experience.

Lungs felt like a first date with Florence & the Machine; it was intense, exciting, thrilling & sometimes vulnerable, Ceremonials is like a third date; more familiar, a deeper connection and understanding, and a better relationship as a result.

Ceremonials certainly hasn't lost that trademark Florence & the Machine 'Wow' Factor and it's a delight to listen to, Never Let Me Go being the standout song of the album for me personally.

Dear Florence
when I was young (around the middle of the last century) we had only a few bands (and no Simon Cowell).
These bands made their own music and played their own instruments.
Some were very very good, and some were just awful - but they all had a go, and rose or fell on their own merits.

One such band was called Jefferson Airplane (the Jefferson after the US President, and the Airplane after Jefferson... (c) A A Milne).

Their singer was a young (in those days) lady called Grace Slick. She had an amazing voice which could soar and roar and whisper and knock down walls.

At one point the 'Airplane was playing a concert in a rain storm and Grace Slick stood at the front of the band, put her head back into the storm and let rip with the lyrics. Thunder and lightning... She has retired now. You may have heard "White Rabbit" - the psychedelic version of Alice in Wonderland (although I suspect the Alice story had something to do with psychedelics as well...) - Grace Slick had a kind of reckless abandon when singing, and her voice was magnificent. Try listening to some of the tracks on "Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun" or "Sunfighter", they may remind you of someone...

During these dying days of the European Experiment, I listen to a variety of music (mostly Jazz I have to admit - perhaps it's an age thing?), but I am blessed with a number (4) of daughters who visit and bring their latest favourite CDs... and sometimes the music is Good (Pearl Jam, Bluehorses, Smashing Pumpkins, Evanescence, kd lang, the National, Tori Amos, Hole) and sometimes it isn't (<names removed to protect the guilty>).

And then sometimes I listen to Jools. 'Cos he has people like Roy Harper (another real musician from the 1960s), and now and again some new group that stirs one's interest.

So the other night there was a band fronted by a red-haired Pre-Raphaelite 'stunner' called Florence.
And during the second song (whose name escapes me) she put her head back and let rip... Tingles down the spine - there was the sound and glory of the Slick in full flight... Magnificent, inspiring, reckless abandon. Now that is a voice. A true, natural, unembellished, magnificent vocal machine... Just glorious.

And so here we are - Florence and the Machine. Ceremonials. I just had to rush out and get the CD. And I was not disappointed at all.
The spirit (and lungs) of Grace Slick - fronting a splendid band, playing their own tunes, and not bowing to the miserable Cowell effect. And with a harp - brilliant.

This is a magnificent album - worthy of the five stars - and I am so delighted that half a century on from the birth of rock music, there are wonderful, independent, brilliant musicians carrying on the glory...