Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Florence + The Machine is storming ahead in the race for this week’s Number 1 album, while a slew of new entries from the likes of Collabro and Simply Red battle for a place in this week’s Top 10: Posted by Official UK Charts on Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Oasis, Florence + the Machine have recorded a session for MTV Unplugged which will be released on CD & download this April. Consisting of some of her biggest songs to date across both her debut album ‘Lungs’ and her recent, 1.7 million selling follow up ‘Ceremonials, this collection of live, acoustic sessions goes further to prove her unique talent. Alongside three of her band members and a 10 piece Gospel choir from New York, Florence played a set that included well known tracks like ‘Dog Days Are Over’, ‘Cosmic Love’, ‘Shake It Out’ and ‘No Light, No Light’. Florence also offered up two brilliant covers of Johnny Cash’s ‘Jackson’ as well as a beautiful rendition of ‘Try A Little Tenderness’. For the ‘Jackson’ cover she was joined by Josh Homme who travelled to New York especially to record this stripped back version of the June & Johnny classic. Earlier that day,...

Florence + the Machine are set to release ‘Never Let Me Go’ as the follow up to ‘No Light, No Light’ on April 2. This emotionally charged huge song is suffused with an elegantly weary grandiloquence, gospel chords shine the way for a multi-tracked flock of Florences to soar in free flight. “The gospel thing comes from my obsession with hymns. I’m drawn to anything that has a hymnal quality, be it Spiritualized or dusty old albums by Georgian choirs.” In the two months since the release of ‘Ceremonials’, love for Florence’s second album continues apace, a mainstay of the UK and US chart top10s with worldwide sales now in excess of 1.5 million. Fresh from a non-stop globe-spanning jaunt of live shows (the US, Brazil and a first visit to Japan), Florence has just returned to the UK where she performed at the Brit Awards & The NME Awards before embarking on her biggest UK tour to date in March. All 120,000 tickets for the spring tour were snapped up by her ever expanding army of fans u...

There’s no doubt about it –Florence Welch is back with an almighty bang having shipped a massive 1 MILLION albums worldwide in just two weeks since the release of her global smash of a follow up record, ‘Ceremonials’. Her widely acclaimed album immediately hit the #1 spot in the UK charts on release and crashed into the US Billboard Top, ranking her right up there with other British heavyweights Adele and Coldplay. ‘No Light, No Light’ is the epic and heart wrenching follow up to lead single ‘Shake It Out’ and will be released on January 16. Remixes come from the wondrous Dave Sitek and Breakage – his only remix of 2011. Part romantic battle-cry, part rain-lashed pledge of devotion, thrashed out over harps, tribal drums and interweaving harmonies, this was one of the first songs to be written for Ceremonials and set the tone for a record that acts as a showcase for its creators’ unabashed maximalism. “There are things I struggle to talk about face-to-face. I’m not a confrontational pe...

There’s no doubt about it –Florence Welch is back with an almighty bang having shipped a massive 1 MILLION albums worldwide in just two weeks since the release of her global smash of a follow up record, ‘Ceremonials’. Her widely acclaimed album immediately hit the #1 spot in the UK charts on release and crashed into the US Billboard Top, ranking her right up there with other British heavyweights Adele and Coldplay. ‘No Light, No Light’ is the epic and heart wrenching follow up to lead single ‘Shake It Out’ and will be released on January 16. Remixes come from the wondrous Dave Sitek and Breakage – his only remix of 2011. Part romantic battle-cry, part rain-lashed pledge of devotion, thrashed out over harps, tribal drums and interweaving harmonies, this was one of the first songs to be written for Ceremonials and set the tone for a record that acts as a showcase for its creators’ unabashed maximalism. “There are things I struggle to talk about face-to-face. I’m not a confrontational per...

A lot can happen to a daydreaming girl in the world, and in the last few years, it's all happened for Florence. The debut album she dream't up in her bedroom in South London burst into being and swept the planet, selling over three million copies, winning the coveted Brits 'Best Album' award and etching itself indelibly into the popular consciousness. Now she has been everywhere: the girl has seen the world and the world has seen the girl. And after months of laying low on home turf, writing and recording in the London she’s long been in love with, Florence returns with her triumphant second album. Ceremonials is a stunningly accomplished record by an artist teetering on the wind-blown top of her game, an extraordinary testament to what Florence refers to as “my incorrigible maximalism”. The pounding epiphanic positivism of ‘Spectrum’; the galloping massed-ranks majesty of ‘All This And Heaven Too’ and ‘Shake It Out’; the triumphant emotional battle cries of ‘No Light...

With the excitement surrounding the release on Florence + The Machine’s second album reaching fever pitch, here’s ‘Shake It Out’ - the massive lead single to be taken from ‘Ceremonials’ . Where ‘What The Water Gave Me’ dramatically played out like an ode to the ocean and is magnificent powers, ‘Shake It Out’ incites a desire to jump up and dance fervently, shaking off the shackles of a persistent mood, feeling or indeed hangover, as, she points out, “it’s hard the dance with the devil on your back so shake it out”. It’s classic Florence + The Machine, stirring the soul and senses, urging you to jump feet first into her world. Florence’s No.1 debut album ‘Lungs’ has now sold over 3 millions worldwide turning her into a globally renowned artist. She’s graced the covers of numerous publications across the world and had her music and live performances lauded at awards including the Brits, VMA’s, Q Awards and Grammy’s since its release in June 2009. After a whirlwind couple of years off the...

Following on from her multi-million selling, multi-award winning, global smash of a debut album ‘Lungs’, Florence returns with new music and confirms the release date of her forthcoming second album. The, as yet untitled album, was produced in full by Paul Epworth to retain one complete sound. It all magically came together over five weeks in the famous Studio 3 of Abbey Road (where the Beatles recorded ‘Revolver’ and Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’), after which Florence and Paul decamped to his own London studio to add the finishing touches. What she gives us as an explosive taster here is what, she says, the water gave her: a captivating art-pop vision that’s as much for dancers as it is for dreamers, for ravers as for rockers, for the living as the drowned and dead-and-gone. “It’s a song for the water...” says Florence; “Because in music and art what I’m really interested in are the things that are overwhelming. The ocean seems to me to be nature’s great overwhelmer. When I was ...

To round off yet another exceptional year, Florence will be releasing the mighty single ‘Heavy In Your Arms’ single alongside ‘Between Two Lungs’ – a two disc special edition version of her 4 x platinum selling Brit Award winning debut album ‘Lungs’. ‘Between Two Lungs’ features new cover art, sleeve notes by Florence and exclusive images. Plus a 10 track second disc which as aswell as Heavy In Your Arms, also includes among others, a live recording of brand new song ‘Strangeness & Charm’. The massive collaboration with Dizzee Rascal ‘You Got The Dirtee Love’ and a previously unreleased Yeasayer remix of ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and will also be available on November 15. Florence recently wowed worldwide audiences with her live performance (and victory) at this year’s MTV VMA Awards which saw her album explode in the U.S. Firing up to #2 in the I tunes chart and breaking the top #15 in the Billboard album chart. Back home Florence has just won two Q Awards for Best Female and Best Trac...

To round off yet another exceptional year, Florence will be releasing the mighty single ‘Heavy In Your Arms’ on November 15th. Produced by Paul Epworth the track a favourite of recent festival headlining live sets was recorded for the Twilight Eclipse film. Florence comments “ Heavy in your arms I suppose is about the weight of love, and how sometimes it can be a burden between two people, I felt this was a strong theme in the twilight series, is someone being rescued or are they being condemned, and is the love you carry bringing you down. I recorded it with paul one evening, using a lot of strange reversed vocal samples and big hip hop piano, its basically inspired by 90's hip hop, and gospel choirs, like most of my songs.. ” ‘Heavy In your Arms’ will also be available on ‘Between Two Lungs’. A two disc special edition version of her 4 x platinum selling Brit Award winning debut album ‘Lungs’. ‘Between Two Lungs’ will feature new cover art, sleeve notes by Florence and exclusive...

The final single to be taken from the million selling album ‘Lungs’ is Florence’s personal favourite - Cosmic Love. A wildly impassioned hymn to the overwhelming supernatural power of love, the epic Cosmic Love has been a show stopping favourite at Florence’s gigs ever since it was first written. Florence was on tour in America and played to an ecstatic crowd at the Coachella Festival. She headed back to the UK in May for her sold out Cosmic Love tour as well as a Somerset House show (July 15th) and a headline slot at this years Latitude Festival (July 16th).

Florence + The Machine Cosmic Love  Single released - July 12th Island The final single to be taken from the million selling album ‘ Lungs ’ is Florence’s personal favourite - Cosmic Love . A wildly impassioned hymn to the overwhelming supernatural power of love, the epic Cosmic Love has been a show stopping favourite at Florence’s gigs ever since it was first written. Florence is currently on tour in America and played to an ecstatic crowd at the Coachella Festival . She heads back to the UK in May for her sold out Cosmic Love tour as well as a Somerset House show (July 15th) and a headline slot at this years Latitude Festival (July 16th). Cosmic Love May Tour - Florence + The Machine supported by the Drums 05 Corn Exchange, Edinburgh
 06 Corn Exchange, Edinburgh
 07 Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
 09 Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
 10 Civic Theatre, Wolverhampton
 11 Civic Theatre, Wolverhampton
 13 HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London
 14 HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London
 15...

Having just finished the NME Awards Tour with a triumphant show at London’s Brixton Academy, The Drums were crowned winners of the “Philip Hall Radar” award at NME awards last month. The quartet has now announced they will be playing three intimate shows across the UK later this month. Additionally, they’ll be treating fans to a performance and signing at instores in each of the cities: Manchester, London & Glasgow. Tickets for The Drums headline show @ the 900 capacity venue, Heaven on 8th June were put on sale last week and SOLD OUT in one day! An additional date @ Heaven on the 9th June has now been added. Instore Monday 29th March – Classic Grand, Glasgow (Instore @ Avalanche) Tuesday 30th March – Deaf Institute, Manchester (Instore@ 1pm, HMV Arndale) Wednesday 31st March – Old Blue Last, London Thursday 1st April – Instore @ 6pm, Rough Trade, London UK Shows Friday 30th April – Live at Leeds Festival, Leeds Saturday 1st May – Camden Crawl, London Tuesday 8th June – Hea...