Florence + the Machine release 10-year anniversary 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' vinyl

‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’, Florence + the Machine’s 3rd studio album, turns a decade old today - yes - 10 years old!

It marked Florence + the Machine’s first US Billboard number 1, rocketed to the top spot in 8 other countries, and has been certified platinum in the UK.

In celebration of its release 10 years ago today, Florence + the Machine have released a limited edition, blue marble version of the LP. You can purchase it using this link.

We’re also running our own little project to celebrate the occasion by compiling videos of fans around the world dancing to the iconic brass outro to ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’. You can find out how to participate at this link.

Florence + the Machine's new song 'Mermaids' out now

Florence + the Machine have released a new track to add to the Dance Fever Universe!

The new song, titled ‘Mermaids’, sees Florence struggle with what it means to be sober, and the ‘cheerful oblivion’ that drinking used to offer her. Florence has been very candid in recent years about the dangerous allure that alcohol has previously had upon her, and ‘Mermaids’ reflects the ongoing relationship she has with

The track was produced by Dave Bayley (who also produced songs such as ‘My Love’ and ‘Daffodil’). Take a listen below.

We will also be hosting a very special streaming event on Stationhead on Saturday 22nd April at 6pm BST / 1pm EST so be sure to tune in!

10 years of Ceremonials - Fan Project

This year (2021) marks a decade since the release of Florence + the Machine’s highly-successful second album, ‘Ceremonials’.

In celebration of this, we will be putting together a feature on our website of the album’s impact on fans across the world.

Simply fill in the form below with your story to be published. This could be:

• What the album means to you

• Your favourite song and its meaning to you

• Your favourite moment or memory during the era

• A tough or happy time that you associate with the album

• Any other story you want us to post related to Ceremonials

Deadline 5th October 2021 - unfortunately you have missed the deadline as we need to now start putting the entries together. We have lots of other projects lined up though so stay tuned!

Shine A Light - Florence Welch's birthday gift 2020

“Try to fill us with your hate and we will shine a light.

And the days will become endless and never turn to night”

Since 2007, it has been clear that Florence + the Machine fans have been united with a common cause: for love, hope and bettering the world in which they live. Every day, we are inspired by the solidarity fans show during such testing times.

It is why, for Florence Welch’s 34th birthday, we have collaborated with fans Ariel (@flomachinenews) and Emily (@purefeelingflo) to create a donation page for fans to celebrate and continue to strive for a better world through supporting charities that Florence has also recognised in recent times. They include:

• Médecins Sans Frontières - a charity aimed at providing medical care to all those in need of it, transcending borders, political ties and financial ability.

• Mermaid UK - a charity which supports and nurtures the needs of transgender and gender-variant children and teens in the UK.

• The Bail Project - an organisation which aims to prevent the mass incarceration of often under-represented groups in the US justice system, particularly those in poverty, black and ethnic minority groups, and many more.

This is a tough time financially for a lot of people, so any amount that you are able to donate would go a long way if you are in the position to do so.

UPDATE 28th AUGUST 2020:

We are excited to announce the winners of our raffle!

1st Prize: a signed, limited Gucci edition of ‘Useless Magic’. Danielle Dennis

2nd Prize: Three prints from Theo’s collection (you choose which ones). Natalja Handy

3rd Prize: a special edition burgundy Lungs vinyl (10th anniversary). Drew Romano

LINK AND MORE INFO TO CONTINUE DONATING: https://www.justgiving.com/team/FlorenceWelchBdayGift2020

The Big FATM Quiz 2020

After 12 years of iconic quotes, unforgettable memories, eccentric photo-shoots and a shed-load of hit songs, the time has finally come to show off your Florence + the Machine knowledge in true lock-down fashion.

Join us on 17th May 2020 (this coming Sunday) for The Big FATM Quiz 2020! The quiz will include 5 rounds, lasting around 1.5 to 2 hours in total, and will include multiple choice questions, “fill in the gaps”, true/false questions, and wouldn’t be complete without a picture and music round!

Where: Zoom (a popular, secure video calling app).

When: 17th May 2020 at 19:30pm BST (UK time).

How can I get involved: Simply register your interest before midnight (00:00 BST) on Saturday 16th May 2020 by filling in this form.

https://bit.ly/fatmquizsignup

We will be running the quiz in groups of 4. Ideally, we’d love you all to make a group of 4 yourselves and choose an imaginative team-name. Otherwise, we’ll allocate you to teams on the night, or you can choose us to allocate you too. Note, we will also accept teams of less than 4 and you can ask to play by yourself.

Feel free to leave questions below, or find us on social media.

See you on Sunday for some Florence + the Machine-related quizzing fun!

WINNERS

1. Anne Hegerty's Angels + Squirrels Yeah!

2. Excellent Potatoes

3. Flownery

BEST NAME

1. Quisa Machine

For those that missed out on the quizzes, you can do them all here and see the answers!

https://bit.ly/fatmpics

https://bit.ly/fatmmusic

https://bit.ly/fatmquotes

https://bit.ly/fatmtf

https://bit.ly/fatmmcq

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LOVE FOREVER - A gift to Florence + the Machine

***THIS PROJECT IS NOW CLOSED TO FURTHER ENTRIES***

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT ANY FURTHER MESSAGES AS THEY WILL NOT BE INCLUDED

Photo: Vincent Haycock

To celebrate the end of the High As Hope era, we wanted to reconnect Florence + the Machine to their fans worldwide, whether they attended a live show or not. So, we’ve organised a little gift for the band, from you, the fans!

Inspired by the nostalgic ‘South London Forever’, our LOVE FOREVER project aims to celebrate the nostalgia of the High As Hope era and let Florence + the Machine know how they have changed you or your life.

To do this, we want you to submit ______ FOREVER, where the blank space is a word that encompasses what you hold closest to your heart with respect to Florence + the Machine / High As Hope. We also would love you to write a little note with it (no more than a few lines) about why you chose the word you did.

Some examples might be ‘HYDE PARK FOREVER’ to highlight your most recent experience of seeing them live. It could be ‘100 YEARS FOREVER’ to let them know your favourite tune. It could even be a name of someone you’ve met through the Florence + the Machine Fan Club that you wouldn’t have otherwise known without your shared love for the band.

The possibilities are endless. The deadline is the 1st August so get creative!

Send your entries to our email, hand them into our admin Charlotte Smith in person at Edinburgh Summer Sessions (first night), or by post (you’ll need to contact us to ask for the mailing address).

Join our STATIONHEAD British Summertime Festival warm-up broadcast

We’re hosting a special radio show to warm up for British Summertime Festival 2019, hosted on the radio app STATIONHEAD.

11th July 2019, 19:30 UK time

Simply download the app (download here) and find our station @fatmfanclub. We’ll be playing some of the band’s greatest hits discussing what set-list we’d like to see, the Between Two Books tent, the ‘stage-show’ and promo video, plus lots more! We’ll also phone in a few fans to join in on the discussion live, and be taking your song requests.

The app is only available for iPhone users at the moment, unfortunately. However, we will be holding an online discussion in the comments section of this page too, so anyone can join in.

See you then!

The Odyssey (Florence + the Machine) - Full Analysis

The Odyssey

Florence + the Machine

The Full Analysis

This is our final analysis from the How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful era; the full ‘The Odyssey’ film. We won’t be going into depth as we’ve done that already in previous analyses; this is an overview of the full cohesive film, although we do go into depth for ‘Third Eye’ as it is the newest and yet to receive an analysis.

“Between a crucifix and the Hollywood sign we decided to get hurt”. Florence has mentioned many times that How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful was the first song she wrote for this album, but also the last that she finished. It was the song that began Florence’s ordeal, and the opening scene to the Odyssey reflects that. A slow zoom into the crucifix that looms over the whole Odyssey (and LA) highlights the start of the descent into chaos, but also an isolating calm that Florence experienced during her year break. 

CHAPTER 1 - WHAT KIND OF MAN

Everything is rosy: Florence is driving in a car with her boyfriend, when suddenly, the car-crash happens. This is the start of Florence’s destructive year. The What Kind of Man sequence plays, which provides the feeling of sudden chaos that Florence is thrown into with this relationship. The storm of a relationship that will turn her life upside-down looms (in the air on the balcony - a nod to ‘Various Storm and Saints’ - and on the TV). She’s trying hard to fight the men that haunt her; that pull her down. It’s futile. She’s never had this experience before so she remains weak compared to this coming storm. 

CHAPTER 2 - HOW BIG HOW BLUE HOW BEAUTIFUL

Florence crawls out of the car-crash. She’s lost; she’s knocked down. She wonders in the street looking for somewhere to go, and instead finds herself led to the bridge that forces her to cross from freedom to purgatory, under the guise of the crucifix. She’s decided to get hurt. 

CHAPTER 3 - ST JUDE

Set in Mexico, this is no longer reality. This video jumps inside Florence’s head and soul, looking from the inside, hence the back-dated 1950s look and different setting. The storm that the meteorologists and that Florence saw coming on the balcony has arrived, and it has soaked her. She’s fragile; she can only be supported by her boyfriend at this point. The car crash has also caused a split to become apparent in Florence; on one hand she’s strong enough to walk by herself, and to see all this pain, but on the other, she physically sees her lifeless self being carried by her boyfriend, and is powerless to stop it. She wonders around, lost. 

CHAPTER 4 - SHIP TO WRECK

Back to reality, looking at Florence from the outside again. Florence has come from LA to London, just as she did on her year off. The two sides to Florence diverge even further. One half wants calm, the other is destructive. They are at odds with one another, fighting for different things, and hence fighting each other. Florence goes from on the floor in her bedroom, and ends up back in the same spot at the end, symbolising the repetitive nature of destruction that she just could not stop. 

CHAPTER 5 & 6 - QUEEN OF PEACE / LONG AND LOST

We jump back to inside Florence’s mind. This time, it’s set in Scotland; Florence’s ancestral home, when they were younger. These videos mirror the youth within Florence wanting peace and calm, but is unable to establish it because everything around her is not allowing it. It also highlights how her family and friends are trying to protect her from this man that is destroying her, but she’s blind to it. Eventually, they pull her away and force her to leave him behind. It destroys her. 

CHAPTER 7 - MOTHER

Back to real-life, Florence is trapped on this bridge still. Notice that this time, she’s physically imprisoned on it; she can reach out to freedom (the hole in the fencing), but she can’t quite get it. She’s told by her friend to leave, and she tells him she wants to stay. Her friend knows this can’t happen though: she can’t live in purgatory her whole life. 

CHAPTER 8 - DELILAH

Florence realises that it’s time to leave, or at least try. Throughout this video, she’s supported by those around her that help her leave. The man who told her to leave even offers to have his hair cut to give her the strength to do so, just as Delilah cuts Samson’s powerful hair in the biblical story. Together, her friends help her finally see that the other side to Florence is simply not her. They help her escape, and by the end of the video, she’s finally reached freedom, surfing on top of the car. This is ironic, considering her problems started with a car-crash. She’s learnt to control and make sense of the car-crash, and now she’s literally above it.

CHAPTER 9 - THIRD EYE (full analysis)

Florence has finally managed to burn away her problems; burn the storm within which she was trapped. This directly mirrors the hurricane symbol in “St Jude”, and the lyric “now there’s a few things we have to burn”. She’s finally managed exactly that, highlighting the full-circle that Florence has completed on this Odyssey. Instead of being passed on from man to man as in “What Kind of Man”, the man carrying Florence puts her down and leaves her. Florence is finally able to stand by herself. The men still surround her, but she’s able to lead them. They follow her this time, rather than her being carried by them. She’s able to walk through the purgatory of men carrying the weight of their stones/sins. She is no longer that person. The men around her come back, and try to bring her down, but with her saviours looking on, she is not strong and experienced enough to know how to control them. Through dance, she overcomes her torments. Florence said this herself, stating that within her year off, dance was her anchor whilst she was out at sea. The music fades, and Rob Ackroyd appears, showing us that Florence has truly come full-circle. Her band support her back onto stage, and she finally appears on stage. This is the final and ultimate level of freedom. Singing these songs that describe such an isolating time in her life to millions of people is literally the highest level of projection/freedom anyone can achieve. She’s returned to where she belongs; she’s returned to her true whole self. 

Delilah - Music Video Analysis (The Odyssey Chapter 8)

Delilah

The Odyssey, Chapter 8 Analysis

“Delilah” marks the end of Florence’s state in purgatory. For all the other music videos since the crash in “What Kind of Man”, Florence has been tormented by her boyfriend.

This video starts with the same hand-in-the-air as “Long & Lost” ended. Remember, Long & Lost ended with Florence being pulled away from her love, and now she’s without him, being told by a man that her faith can be restored if she loves herself (a hint to Third Eye?) now that she’s apart from her love. Florence #2 is seen walking away from this room, as if Florence #2 is the only one mourning, and the man is exorcising that Florence out of her body.

Florence #1 is then seen walking down a landing, with Florence #2 following her behind, tormenting her thoughts. Florence #1 is then seen cutting her love’s hair; just as in the biblical story of Sampson and Delilah, Delilah cuts Sampson’s hair since it is his power. Florence cutting her love’s hair may be suggesting Florence is cutting the chains and power that he has over her. This is reiterated when he is seen slumped on the bed, lifeless. The other women in bed with her could be a symbol of all the strong women Florence has drawn on into her own life to gain strength whilst her love has lost his. They support her as she is about to fall off the edge of the bed; when she’s seeing life upside-down literally.

The scene cuts to Florence hugging Florence #2, showing that she’s not quite ready to let the pitiful side of her go yet. They’re both mourning together.
Florence’s love is seen to cover her eyes, emphasising the lyric “and I’m going blind”, that her love blinded her from reality. In contrast to the women, the men around Florence are just lying there, unempathetic.

Florence beats her head against a chair, as if trying to eliminate her pain and sorrow of what she’s done on her own as well as a sort of prayer. The daemon on the bed is a reference to Florence’s sleep paralysis, which is said to give sufferers delusions of a shadow figure over you, stopping you moving. This could reference the sorrowful Florence #2 again - when awake, Florence #2 is seen as harmless to #1, but when asleep (metaphorically speaking, Florence has her eyes closed to reality in this relationship), #1 realises this “harmless” side to her is stopping her from moving on, just like the daemon stops sleepers from moving.

Florence suddenly wakes up from this. She goes outside and searches out/retraces all the men that were bullying her, as they were in “What Kind of Man”. She’s got total control over them now, until she goes too far and they start winning her over again. However, her woman friend (Comfort Fedoke) comes out and although Florence sees her as an obstacle at first, she takes Florence away from the situation, maybe a metaphor for her real friends helping her get over the loss of her boyfriend. Comfort Fedoke is then seen repeating the head-banging moves that Florence did earlier, emphasising that Comfort was helping Florence because she has been through the same situation before.

Then, the turning point comes. Thanks to the support of these women, Florence finally sees herself (#2) struggling with this man, and realises it’s not healthy. The disguise of it all is revealed, and Florence doesn’t want to believe it. Florence #2 tells Florence to run; to leave her old sorrowful self behind, and Florence #1 struggles with this. “I’m not you” mouths Florence #2

Florence #2, seen with all her torments (the men) behind her, ushers Florence away, and is also seen embracing Florence #1 by the pool in acceptance that this is the reality of things. The scene cuts to Florence #1 in the pool with her man. This highlights the fact that Florence was barely above water, solely dependent on this one man to save her before. Florence #2 is then shown face-down in the water; Florence has said goodbye to that destructive side of her, and now she's been killed off.

Florence changes out of her old clothes; literally, she is changing. She drags her man out of her life like he dragged her into it. Now, highlighted by Florence cruising on the car, she is truly free. Remember, that hand-gesture to the sky in Long & Lost / Queen of Peace was a symbol of freedom, but unlike in those two videos, now Florence is actually moving. She’s not statically hoping for freedom, but now she has it.

The video ends with cut-scenes from “What Kind of Man”, and what looks like “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”. The “WKOM” scenes highlight how things have come full-circle. Florence is now out of hell, and is at a stage before the car-crash again. Now we’ve seen Florence go through everything after the crash, if it does happen again, we as the audience know how to deal with it. The greens may also be signifying a “grass is greener on the other side” mentality.

As with the shots of the trees resembling HBHBHB, we speculate that the whole Odyssey will come full-circle and end with the full video, especially since in the short version, there is an obvious scene cut when Florence goes into the cave and comes back out.

Queen of Peace / Long & Lost - Music Video Analysis (The Odyssey Chapters 5 & 6

Queen of Peace

The Odyssey, Chapters 5 & 6 Analysis

And so continues the odyssey of “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”. “Queen of Peace” dropped today at 3pm BST, along with “Long and Lost” which features in the same video.

There are two families in this video – Florence’s, and the man’s that she falls in love with. These families dislike each other, and often fights occur.
The start of the video sees crashing waves against the coastline. It gives the impression of entrapment on this island. The waves are violent, just like the war between these two families that feature in it. If you try and escape from the violence, it only pushes you back in to the rocky shore. This theme runs throughout the video.
Young Florence is then seen walking to the edge of a cliff, stretching out her arm to symbolise the freedom from it all that she longs for. The scene then cuts to present Florence using the same gesture but towards her love, showing how her idea of freedom is being with her man, since her family forbids it. Her love sits with her in a field, and Florence steps over to her younger self, as if forcing herself to remember how this all started.

We then see that Florence first meets her love when the boy was fighting with a member of Florence’s family. Young Flo pulls the boy away from the fight, acting as the peace-maker. The scene jumps to older Florence, still trying to mediate the fight between the two families, but this time she’s on the outside of it all, unable to get it. All she can do is try and show affection to each member; she tries to remind them that they don’t need to fight if they show a little love.
Florence is then seen with her older man, except even though her love was the one fighting, it’s Florence that appears weak, as if the fighting is making her tired, and mentally hurting her more than the physical hurt being inflicted on her lover.

Throughout the video, Florence’s family keeps pulling her away from her love, leading her back home and keeping her there, away from him. Florence runs her hand over the walls of the house, once again highlighting her sense of no escape. Florence appears to be pleading with her family for escape through her movements, showing them affection throughout (although pushing her brother’s face, probably to show the stereotypical sibling feuds in a normal family).
Florence then appears on the cliff edge with her father (the symbol of freedom), again pleading with him. They both look tearful, and we’re not sure why, until the camera pans out and we then see that Florence has asked her father about being with the man from the other family, and he agrees to allow it. The father holds the man’s hand in acceptance, although the man is on his knees, showing how there is still a level of dominance between the families.

Now that Florence and her man are together, we see that their relationship is still strained because of the background dislike between the two families. A family photo is then set up during the (insinuated) marriage of the couple. None of the family members are smiling – the family has been forced together by the love of their children, but they are clearly still bitter about the situation.
Florence can’t keep up the façade of appearing normal for a photograph, just as she can’t keep up the lie that she feels comfortable in a relationship strained by feud. She bows her head to show this. Florence, and young Florence hiding in the background in the photo, are both holding daffodils, which are commonly used to symbolise new beginnings but also unrequited love – it’s as if young Florence knew the relationship wouldn’t hold, but went along with it in the hope that it would.

The scene cuts to young Florence and her love running away. Their families chase them, hunting them down to tear them apart. Notice how they are running away towards the cliff edge, once again alluding to the idea of the cliff edge meaning escape and freedom. Meanwhile, present day Florence is trying to stop another night-time fight from happening between her brother than her love.

The next scenes get even sadder. Florence is being locked out of her home, allowing her and her love to be swarmed by the mob and attack them. The scene where Florence’s dad accepts her lover on the cliff edge turns into her dad attacking him, in a scene that should symbolise freedom.

The narrator (presumably Florence’s love) says how the only thing they wanted from the love was to be accepted by each other, but not owned, since ownership means love so intense, that you can’t live. “Salt water’s no drink” explains this further – all water, just like love, looks safe to drink. Drink the wrong type, and instead of being given hydrated (living), the opposite can happen and you can dehydrate (not live), just as the wrong type of love can trap you from living your life.

Long and Lost begins. Florence’s family have decided to take her away from the island. Florence wanted freedom from the fighting, but now she has it, she wants to return. “Is it too late to come on home” back to the island. Unlike when she was trying to fix her family’s relationship with love, now that there’s nothing more to fix, she shows anger at them for taking her away. Once again, she touches the barriers, just like she touched the walls of her house, to highlight the constraint that still exists, even away from the island that was her prison. She feels as though her cause is lost. Her family try to hold her on their side, but she breaks free and moves to the complete opposite side of the boat’s deck. Two families with a divide have now become one family, still with a divide. One island that was once her prison has now become the boat to freedom, which is still her prison. That same “freedom” hand gesture at the beginning of the video appears again to emphasise this. No matter where she goes, whether she’s with or away from her love, she will be trapped. Nothing can make her truly free, since being in love is just as trapping as being out of it.

This fact really gives us an insight into how Florence felt in her 2013 relationship, and we can now begin to empathise with her during her year off, where she was constantly being reunited and then withdrawn from her man. The narration again at the end talks of waves crashing on shore; water and love are drawn together again, and both are used to explain how Florence felt that her love was just crashing her back into the coast that was her prison. When she tried to swim away, she’d get even more hurt when the waves pushed her back.