The four-year wait is over, it gives us great pleasure to say that Florence and the Machine are back!
The band has recently revealed they will return with their third album entitled: ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.’ It will follow their 2009 debut ‘Lungs’ and its follow up ‘Ceremonials’ that arrived in 2011.
Chatting to Zane Lowe on Radio 1 recently, Florence Welch revealed that her break from the music scene was tough and claims she had a “bit of a nervous breakdown.”
Welch noted that all the free time came as a bit of a “crash landing” as she had been used to having a gig at the end of every day.
“You go from these huge stadiums and all of a sudden I’d moved out of home…if you trash your house on a Tuesday, you can’t go to the next one it’s your house!”
Discussing her year off, she said how she would still attend events, but it didn’t feel right, and she was “spiralling a bit”.
She further commented: “It was a really vulnerable time for me when we first started making the record and because of that it’s the most personal record I’ve ever made.”
Florence worked with the producer Markus Dravs on the new album, his credits include: Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Björk and Mumford & Sons, so it’s safe to say the record was in safe hands.
Dravs made Welch work hard on the album; as Flo told Zane, he hardly let her ease back into studio life slowly: “I got in there in February and he just shut the door and said, ‘We’re making the record.'”
The album will be released on June 1, you can check out the tracklist for it here:
Ship To Wreck
What Kind Of Man
How Big How Blue How Beautiful
Queen Of Peace
Various Storms & Saints
Delilah
Long & Lost
Caught
Third Eye
St Jude
Mother
For a little taster, check out this video for her song ‘What Kind Of Man’:
Florence and the band have also announced they will be making festival appearances this year, so far they have confirmed a headline slot at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Norwich this summer.
She has also hinted that they would be up for performing at Glastonbury 2015, and told John Holmes on XFM that she was “still waiting for the phonecall.”
Bookmakers Paddy Power has odds of 6/1 for them headlining the festival. Foo Fighters have recently revealed they will be headlining the Friday slot, so our fingers are crossed for her on the Saturday or Sunday night!
Keep your eyes peeled for updates and if you want to see her at Radio 1’s Big Weekend don’t forget to head to their website in April to apply for tickets!
Are you happy with the return of Florence and the Machine? Tell us your thoughts! @tweetjanes