Looking at it Lyrically
By Clarissa
Florence has Flowery lyrics but also creates harsher and brutal images as seen from the song “kiss with a fist” and “girl with one eye”.
“Kiss with a fist” a kooky look at domestic violence, I love the line “you smashed a plate over my head, then I set fire to our bed”, a very catchy tune. Following that style but one of my favorite tracks “girl with one eye”. Ironically this song is very hypnotic as if she tells this story to your eye. It’s very rhythmic and bluesy, with all the syncopation, and here you also hear nuances of soul music. The pulse of the drum fleets in and out. You get the sense of the jealous eye. This woman is fearless and the song is filled with melancholy, sorrow and strength “now she sleeps with one eye open, but that’s the price she must pay”. There are macabre, images yet Florence manages to make them beautiful. Don’t ask me how. I really don’t know. Don’t censor this song!
"Howl", is AMAZING! The constant rhythm of the drum, the gothic feel, the gradual build and leitmotif and metaphor of the werewolf all add to the intenseness. It’s a euphemistic and Eurhythmics kind of song. With lines like “I want to find you tear out all your tenderness”. It’s a very passionate song showing the change that a person can have on someone else. Lust aswell? She’s an amazing songstress. There is a lot of repetition of single lines making it very poetic, here she appears here like one of the Romantics.
"Cosmic Love", is another superb song. With it’s the ethereal, otherworldly sound which seems to contemplate the vastness of love. It becomes a macrocosmic as the universe! The unknowableness and aloneness of love, is touched on. Love as that dark matter, or energy. It reminded me of the beginning of the creation of Narnia, and also the end of it….this song should be the sound track to that..ok, back to the music. Amazing. We love physics. Always enjoyed the idea of strings and music. I love the comparisons she makes. Plucking of the heart strings and. Uncannily I thought it reflected the tie with physics, string theory, and all that jazz strings the building blocks of everything. Comic Love becomes cosmic vibration. Engulfing everything.
“My boy builds coffins”, is a mellow tune. It’s kind of folksy. Quite randomly, the instrumentation and rhythms reminded me of African highlife music. Or maybe something Irish. I liked the line “My boy builds coffin for better or worse” which seemed quite oxymoronic. The idea of the end, as death, and the beginning as marriage. It also made me think if we’re all equal in death, surely we should be in life? Quite random.
“Dog days” are over was the first song release, and is another great song. With its woody instruments, and the orchestra of handclaps, it has a feeling of dogs being chased or running after sticks yet this song is not about a dog. Her voice becomes both delicate and bold on this track. The song changes, gaining strength and loudness, with great harmonies, that really resonate. Thank the machine. Here she reminds me of one of the metaphysical poets as with her paradoxical, unorthodox comparisons, and juxtaposition, “Happiness hit her like a train on a track”. I love the line “And i never wanted anything from you, except everything you had and what was left after that too”
“You got the love” is a great closing track. You might recognize it from that O2 adverts. Oxygen and Lungs. Ok maybe reading to much into it….The song brings everything together, with the similar us of instruments and reminding us that drums serve as a constant heart beat in between the lungs of the album. And as I said the album is so good, you’ll be left breathless. You might have a heart attack. But don’t worry you can resurrect yourself by listening to it again.