How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (10th Anniversary Edition)＜Marble Blue Vinyl＞

2015年にリリースされたFlorence + The Machineの3rdアルバム『How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful』10周年記念盤!

全英、全米1位に輝き100万枚以上を売った大ヒットアルバムの10周年記念マーブル・ブルー・カラー・ヴァイナル2LP。
ヒットシングル「What Kind of Man」、「Ship to Wreck」、「Queen of Peace」、「Delilah」を収録。

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