How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful ［11 Tracks］

2007年にロンドンで結成されたインディ・ロック・バンド=フローレンス・アンド・ザ・マシーン、ファン感涙のサード・アルバムをリリース!Florenceによると、〈人生や取り巻く世界から逃げることなく、どの様に生きるか、どの様に世界を愛するかを学ぼうとする〉内容。プロデューサーには、ここ数年で3度のグラミー賞を獲得してきた(第53回年間最優秀アルバム- Arcade Fireの" The Suburbs" / 第55回年間最優秀アルバム- Mumford & Sonsの"Babel" /第51回年間最優秀ロック・アルバム- Coldplay "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends")Markus Dravsを起用。アルバム『Ceremonials』に収録された"Shake It Out"の共作者であるKid Harpoonと再度タッグ組んだ先行曲"Ship To Wreck"はアルバムを代表する楽曲!

The much anticipated third studio long-player from Florence Welch and her mechanically inclined cohorts, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful arrives after a period of recalibration for the spirited and soulful English chamber rockers. Arriving three and a half years after 2011's critically acclaimed Ceremonials, the 11-track set, produced by Markus Dravs, eschews the water and death-fixated metaphors of Ceremonials in favor of a more honest and revealing look at Welch's life, while retaining all of the scope and mystic pageantry of her prior outings. ~ James Christopher Monger|

The much-anticipated third studio long-player from Florence Welch and her mechanically inclined companions, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful arrives after a period of recalibration for the spirited English songtress. Arriving three-and-a-half years after 2011's well-received Ceremonials, the 11-track set, the first Florence + the Machine album to be produced by Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay), eschews some of the bombast and water- and death-fixated metaphors of Lungs and Ceremonials in favor of a more restrained sonic scope and an honest reckoning with the dark follies of your late twenties. This change is most notable on the workmanlike opener "Ship to Wreck," a shimmering, open road-ready folk-rock rumination on the ambiguity/inevitability of post-fame self-destruction that, unlike prior first cuts like "Dog Days Are Over" and "Only If for a Night," feels firmly rooted in the now. The bluesy (and ballsy) "What a Man," the propulsive and purposeful "Delilah," and the gorgeous title track impress the most. Instead of building to a fevered crescendo, as is the Flo-Machine way, the latter cut, a transcendent, slow-burning, chamber pop gem, dissolves into a simple and elegant, yet still goose-bump-inducing round of horns, and is breathtaking without knocking the wind out of you. ~ James Christopher Monger

アーケイド・ファイアやコールドプレイとの仕事で知られるマーカス・ドラヴスをプロデューサーに迎えた今作は、特徴的だった荘厳なバロック調のサウンドが後退し、よりバンド主導のタイトな音作りへ。が、曲構成に豊かなアイデアが反映され、自信に満ちた彼女の歌唱っぷりも手伝って、スケールの大きさは少しも減じられてない。わけてもイザベラ・サマーズと共作したタイトル・トラックの練り込み方が素晴らしく、後半のオーケストレーションも劇的だ。
bounce (C)内本順一