Florence + The Machine Italian Army @fatmitalianarmy - Tumblr Blog

Billboard photoshoot outtake by Jenny Sargent, 2015.

#florence and the machine #Florence Welch

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HUNGER // 3RD MAY

The first single from Florence + the Machine’s new album

Music video by A.G. Rojas

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“Even then, she knew that there is no such thing as sure. There is no absolute anything. The gods love to fuck with us.” ― Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies

skyfullofsong

Snow White’s stitching up the circuit board

Synapse slipping through the hidden door

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Aesthetic: Florence Welch’s hands

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previously unseen pictures of florence welch, taken by tom beard

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SO IT GOES // ISSUE 11 – FLORENCE WELCH by Gia Coppola

New York Poem (for Polly) read by Florence 💗

My mother and father come to me in visions

And I can feel their arms of love stretch out across

the sea, across time, across divorces deception

and death, I know that I am their daughter.

And I know that they love me, despite the damage.

We walk past the hotel where we nearly died,

a kind of, passive double suicide.

Wave at the ghosts of ourselves,

Cold and still inside

Run screaming into the street

THIS IS THE NEW SHIT

Heady with pagan worship

of water towers,

fire escapes, ever reaching,

high as hope.

Then we are dead.

And we are together in ‘other’ New York.

Which is both heaven and hell,

and we coffee, and ice cream

and aching hearts.

#florence and the machine #poetry #Florence Welch #record store day

Sky Full Of Song vinyl for Record Store Day 2018

#florence and the machine #record store day

Sky Full Of Song

Illustration by monolimeart

#florence and the machine #sky full of song #art

Florence backstage with Arcade Fire in London last night ❤️

#florence and the machine #arcade fire

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When I was writing this song, I would go to Isa’s studio after art school, (cycling up Crystal Palace hill which takes some dedication) I had been listening to an album called ‘Funeral’ And I wanted to at least try and make something that could be in any way as beautiful. I don’t know if I succeeded, but to play it with them last night was a dream come true. Arcade Fire changed the way I wanted to make music and I will be forever grateful to them x

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‘Sky Full of Song’ - Music Video Analysis

Florence + the Machine return with the teaser single ‘Sky Full Of Song’ for Record Store Day, with an artistic accompanying video, directed by A.G. Rojas (who also worked with Florence and Vincent Haycock on their Odyssey in 2015/16). As per tradition, we will be attempting to break down this video to make sense of it. As always, if you have any comments or ideas, feel free to write them in the comments section!To understand the concept, we will first outline the meaning of the song itself. In ‘Sky Full of Song’, Florence talks about how she writes songs in order to escape her feelings. She has mentioned in the past that the songs are personal notes to herself, and then when she sings them on stage, they become a release - an exorcism of emotions to make her feel better. Florence has previously talked about her channeling new energies and transcending to higher levels when she performs on stage, and how the songs themselves help her sore to higher places:

The trumpets at the end of that song [How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful] - that’s what love feels like to me. An endless brass section that goes off into space. And it takes you with it. You’re so up there. And that’s what music feels like to me. You want it just to pour out endlessly, and it’s the most amazing feeling

However, in this song, she comes to realise that there is a paradox. The very songs that she writes to escape her reality, actually ground her. She realises that although she writes the songs to transcend and remove her feelings to the air, they have real and heavy meanings to her, since they are written about her “chaotic” life in her darkest moments. Whilst she’s singing them, and soaring high, filling the sky with song, she wishes she can be shot down from the sky to release her from the pain of the paradox.

Sometimes when you are performing you get so high, it’s hard to know how to come down. There is this feeling of being cracked open, rushing endlessly outwards and upwards, and wanting somebody to hold you still, bring you back to yourself. It’s an incredible, celestial, but somehow lonely feeling

It was pointed out to us that this video used similar imagery to the famous horror film ‘The Ring’. We think it’s worth briefly talking about the imagery in the film. The plot of ‘The Ring’ is of a girl who was adopted, but her new mother pushed her into a well and left her there to die (pretty bleak…). The girl made a video tape of her experience in the well, and anyone that watched the video is cursed if they do not force other people to watch it within 7 days. In the cursed video, the famous ring shape is that of the well cover, as the little girl looks up to the sky. This ring mirrors a similar image used in Florence’s music video - the vinyl in glass. More on this later. The video for ‘The Ring’ also features a chair, and a ladder, which is seen in Florence’s video too. We believe that the parallels between the horror film and Florence’s video are to highlight that just as the little girl was pushed into the well by the one she loved, and couldn’t escape, Florence was also pushed from the sky to the ground by her loved one.

Now to the main analysis. The video starts by showing a colourful flower, growing from soil on the floor. It then jumps to the inky ring-shaped artwork. Just as the little girl looked up from inside the well and saw the sunlight around the cover, this shot is Florence looking up to the sky, watching the clouds move across. Notice the directions that the ‘clouds’ move; they encroach upon the centre, like the sky and the ground meeting in the middle. This is where Florence longs to be, without feeling rooted to the room she’s trapped within. The shot then shows a candle in a dimming room that extinguishes. Candles are usually perceived as romantic, and judging by the amount of wax on the table, it appears Florence has lit this candle all too often, hoping that the person / things she loves will join her in her purgatory. They do not, and the flame goes out.

Florence is seen trapped in this room. She has a flower growing in her hand, and she lies in a white room with a black backdrop. This related directly back to the song - Florence was under the illusion that singing songs would allow her to transcend to a higher place (the sky), hence the white dreamy-looking room. However, in fact, Florence is grounded by their dark meanings, hence the black backdrop. Each flower in that room represents another song she has written, in the hope that they will grow and allow her to climb to the sky. To the contrary, they all remain beautiful, but very small, flowers. She agonises over a pot of soil, hoping that this last flower (song) will allow her to finally escape her torment. She lays on the floor, allowing this flower to sap the energy from her. It literally roots her to the ground, unable to move as she channels her life-force into providing energy for this flower to grow. All the while, she looks up to the sky and continues watching this ring-like cloud structure above her rolling overhead, longing for the flowers (songs) to serve their intended purpose and allow her to transcend without being tethered down in this false ‘heaven’. Finally, Florence decides that her best efforts are useless, and leaves the flower, presumably to die. As she does this, she notices a ladder that will allow her to escape. She realises that all this time she has been cultivating these flowers, that were rooting her to the floor, they were not the answer. She found it within herself to search for other ways to make herself better, and she finds it. The video ends by focusing on this last colourful flower, showing that even though it has been left, it can survive and be its own beautiful being without having to serve another purpose. Just like Florence’s beautiful songs, it is what it is, and nothing more.

What do you think? Do you agree with our interpretation, or think there is another meaning? We’d love to hear your opinions! Let us know and we’ll add them to the bottom of this analysis.