Florence + The Machine treated an intimate audience in a London club to several new songs, which will be on the group’s highly anticipated forthcoming album, “How Big How Blue How Beautiful”.
On Wednesday March 4th, Florence + The Machine fans at the Tufnell Park Dome in northern London were treated to the live premiere of three new tracks that will be on the new album. The set list included the title track, along with two new songs “St. Jude” and “Third Eye”. But, it was the album’s lead single, “What Kind of Man” that Florence + The Machine chose to kick off their evening set, NME reported.
“What Kind of Man” was recorded from the audience, and the video shows lead singer Florence Welch headbanging in time with the beat of the song, and kneeling down to interact with audience members near the stage.
Next, Welch thanked the audience, and began to explain the story behind the new album’s title track, ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’. NME reported that she told the crowd, “This next song was recorded in LA on that day I got you [gesturing to collaborator Isabella Summers] that outfit and we dressed up as Prince. It was the first song that was written for ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ and it means a lot to me. It’s incredible to be able to play it for you for the first time.”
Be sure to check out the videos for “How Big How Blue How Beautiful” and first single, “What Kind of Man”, along with our coverage about the forthcoming album. On stage Wednesday in London, Welch is seen recreating some of the dance moves used in the “How Big How Blue How Beautiful” video, live.
Check out both of the aforementioned audience shot videos, below.
After this came one of the completely new songs, “St. Jude”. In the live clip, “St. Jude” is described as being “a tender and lonesome baroque pop number and sees the UK frontwoman adapting a more reposed, intimate demeanor,” according to Consequence of Sound.
In addition, Welch prefaced “St. Jude” with a special dedication to the producer Markus Dravs, who produced the tracks that appear on “How Big How Blue How Beautiful”. According to NME, Welch began the dedication saying, “This one was especially championed by Markus Dravs who produced the record and is in the audience tonight.” Adding onto that, she said, “He lent me a lot of jumpers and made sure I had lights on my bike and generally looked after me. During that year a lot of storms followed me around, real ones and emotional ones, and this is about that.”
Check it out:
Lastly, the surging energy and Motown-influenced sounds of “Third Eye”, would round out the series of new material that premiered in London. NME reported that Welch said, the following about “Third Eye”: “This next song was written I thought for someone else, but I think it might have been for me, if you know what I mean.” The track’s rousing chorus centred around the lyric “There’s a hole where your heart lies/I can see it with my third eye.”
Check it out:
“How Big How Blue How Beautiful” is out on June 2nd, 2015, via Republic Records.
Leave a Comment