(Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna)
After screening short film The Odyssey in New York City and London and being released in bits and pieces, Florence Welch and Vincent Haycock have released it for streaming on Youtube and Vevo. The film was created as a companion to Florence + the Machine’s latest LP How Big How Blue How Beautiful and stars Welch.
The 40 minute film is made up of several distinct visual segments that when combined together create a single cohesive film. The segments include “What Kind of Man,” “How Big How Blue How Beautiful,” “St. Jude,” “Ship to Wreck,” “Queen of Peace,” “Delilah” and “Third Eye.”
As director Haycock explains, the short film parallels Homer’s epic, detailing the emotional journey Welch undertook following “a storm of heartbreak” after a particularly devastating “car crash of a relationship break up.” The project was borne from a conversation the two artists had at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
“Like the layers of Dante’s purgatory, each song or chapter represents a battle that Florence traversed and physical landscape that embodied each song or story,” he said. “Its a metaphorical journey about escaping your demons, confronting yourself and returning to the original Florence, the dancer, the performer, the lover.”
Watch The Odyssey below:
Florence + the Machine’s latest album How Big How Blue How Beautiful is one of the most well-received albums of 2015, both critically and commercially. While the music press heaped praise upon the album, consumers helped make it the band’s first #1 hit in the United States. The band’s third album, it followed 2009’s Lungs and 2011’s breakthrough hit Ceremonials.
The English indie pop band is currently out on tour in the United States, with support from Anderson. Paak, Grimes and Of Monsters and Men.
05/17: Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion *
05/18: Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center *
05/19: Austin, TX – Austin360 Amphitheater *
05/20: Gulf Shores, AL – Hangout Music Festival
05/24: Kansas City, KS – KRBZ Cricket Wireless *
05/26: Denver, CO – Pepsi Center *
06/02: Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center *
06/04: Cleveland, PA – Blossom Music Center ^
06/07: Boston, MA – Xfinity Center ^
06/08: Montreal, QC – Bell Centre ^
06/10: Toronto, ON – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre ^
06/11: Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre ^
06/12: Chicago, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre ^
06/14: New York, NY – Barclays Center *
06/15: New York, NY – Barclays Center *
06/17: Dover, DE – Firefly Music Festival
06/21: Zagreb, HR – inMusic Festival
07/02: London, UK – BST Hyde Park
07/03: Werchter, BE – Rock Werchter
* = featuring Grimes
^ = featuring Of Monsters and Men