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FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

Florence + The Machine & Jules Buckley And His Orchestra

Symphony Of Lungs (BBC Proms At The Royal Albert Hall)

    Florence + The Machine joins Jules Buckley and his Orchestra for a celebration of Lungs, her BRIT Award-winning debut album, released to huge acclaim 15 years ago.

    On the 11th September 2024, Symphony of Lungs came to life at the BBC Proms with an outstanding performance from Florence + The Machine and Jules Buckley, reimagining the album Lungs in its entirety. This included best-selling and fan favourite singles, ‘Dog Days Are Over’, ‘You’ve Got The Love’ and ‘Cosmic Love’ in addition to rarities Florence admitted she hadn’t performed in at least 15 years, including ‘Bird Song’ and ‘Falling’. Jules Buckley with his team of arrangers transformed the already beautifully produced album into an orchestral and choral masterpiece. Jules commented in an interview with Timmy Fisher for the concert programme, “So much of what we hear on the original is already orchestral: you hear these epic harp lines from Tom (Moth) and the multitude of percussion writing that just slams when it needs to slam and coaxes us when the anticipation builds.” He emphasises these elements are what inspired him to arrange such an album and helped him to connect to each song’s message and use the orchestral palette to help enhance it.

    The Jules Buckley Orchestra was created in 2022 to conceive and develop exciting new projects with an array of artist collaborations. Consisting of players hand-picked by Jules, all following their own individual paths as pivotal musicians in the UK’s recording scene. Symphony of Lungs was the ensemble’s third collaborative artist project with BBC Proms. Medieval folk instruments (including lutes and a Theorbo solo), added a unique touch to this project, while resident organist of the Royal Albert Hall and TikTok organ sensation Anna Lapwood also joined the magical collaboration. Also joining the orchestra in this spectacular production were The London Contemporary Voices founded by multifaceted artist, producer and creative director, Ilā Kamalagharan.

    In addition to the performance being live streamed on BBC Radio 3, Universal Music Recordings in conjunction with the BBC will be officially releasing the live recording of this performance, initially on digital streaming platforms in October 2024, followed by 2LP black and CD formats in March 2025. The physical products include breathtaking imagery from the performance as well as a heartfelt personal note from Florence herself.

    TRACK LISTING

    Drumming Song
    My Boy Builds Coffins
    You’ve Got The Love
    Bird Song
    Swimming
    I’m Not Calling You A Liar
    Kiss With A Fist
    Howl
    Girl With One Eye
    Hardest Of Hearts
    Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
    Blinding
    Hurricane Drunk
    Cosmic Love
    Between Two Lungs
    Dog Days Are Over
    Falling

    Florence + The Machine

    Dance Fever: Live At Madison Square Garden

      Recorded at the band’s two sold out Madison Square Garden shows in September 2022, Dance Fever (Live at Madison Square Garden), the new live album from Florence + the Machine, features live versions of tracks from the much-lauded new album Dance Fever—including “Free”, “King” and “Dream Girl Evil”—plus classics from throughout the band’s career. Available as a gatefold 2LP on heavyweight black vinyl.

      TRACK LISTING

      Heaven Is Here (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      King (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Ship To Wreck (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Free (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Daffodil (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Dog Days Are Over (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Girls Against God (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Dream Girl Evil (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Cassandra (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Morning Elvis (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      June (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Choreomania (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Kiss With A Fist (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Cosmic Love (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      My Love (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Restraint (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      The End Of Love (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Never Let Me Go (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Shake It Out (Live At Madison Square Garden)
      Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (Live At Madison Square Garden)

      Dance Fever was recorded predominately in London over the course of the pandemic in anticipation of the world’s reopening. It conjures up what Florence missed most in the midst of lockdown -clubs, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and togetherness -and the hope of reunions to come. It’s the album that brings back the very best of Florence – the festival headlining Boudicca, wielding anthems like a flaming sword.

      Just before the pandemic Florence had become fascinated by choreomania, a Renaissance phenomenon in which groups of people - sometimes thousands - danced wildly to the point of exhaustion, collapse and death. The imagery resonated with Florence, who had been touring nonstop for more than a decade, and in lockdown felt oddly prescient.

      The image and concept of dance, and choreomania, remained central as Florence wove her own experiences of dance - a discipline she turned to in the early days of sobriety - with the folkloric elements of a moral panic from the Middle Ages. In recent times of torpor and confinement, dance offered propulsion, energy and a way of looking at music more choreographically.

      Starting, as ever, armed with a notebook of poems and ideas, Florence had just arrived in New York in March 2020 to begin recording the record with Jack Antonoff when Covid-19 forced a retreat to London. Holed up at home, the songs began to transform, with nods to dance, folk, ‘70s Iggy Pop, longing-for-the-road folk tracks a la Lucinda Williams or Emmylou Harris and more.

      Once back in London, ‘My Love’ was one particular track that shapeshifted from one entity to another with the help of Dave Bayley from Glass Animals. Welch had written the song in her kitchen as a “sad little poem”, and when she recorded it acoustically it just didn’t seem to work. Bayley suggested using synths and it soon expanded with floor-filling, chest-thumping energy.
      With Dave’s love of synths and Florence’s fascination with all things gothic and creepy a kind of “Nick Cave at the club” sound started to emerge to shape the record. Lyrically, she took inspiration from the tragic heroines of pre-Raphaelite art, the gothic fiction of Carmen Maria Machado and Julia Armfield, the visceral wave of folk horror film from The Wicker Man and The Witch to Midsommar.

      Dance Fever is an album that sees Florence at the peak of her powers, coming into a fully realised self-knowledge, poking sly fun at her own self-created persona, playing with ideas of identity, masculine and feminine, redemptive, celebratory, stepping fully into her place in the iconic pantheon.


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: The great Florence Welch returns, machine in tow for her most bombastic and exuberant outing yet. The ever-present gothic leaning synth anthems take on a more confident and operatic tone, lending further evidence (as if any were needed) that Welch and to a lesser extent, The Machine are here to stay. a Majestic and impeccable collection.

      TRACK LISTING

      King
      Free
      Choreomania
      Back In Town
      Girls Against God
      Dream Girl Evil
      Prayer Factory
      Cassandra
      Heaven Is Here
      Daffodil
      My Love
      Restraint
      The Bomb
      Morning Elvis


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