Florence and The Machine
High As Hope

The grandeur, the pompous arrangements, and the airy and open melodies have so far been the trademark that has allowed Florence Welch to carve out great success in the ever-shrinking world of successful alt-rock.

For some time now, the beautiful British artist has been promising us a more intimate, sparse, and personal album, but the attempts made so far (despite ever-growing commercial and critical success) have not hit the mark. Florence (along with her The Machine) tries again with this new "High As Hope," the fourth seal in a seemingly unstoppable career, relying on a single producer instead of the usual heap behind the mixing board (it's Emilie Hanye, who has already worked with the Rolling Stones, Lana Del Rey, and Eminem) and carefully selecting the co-authors of the ten tracks that make up the work (among which Tobias Jess Jr. and Jamie XX of The xx stand out).

Did she succeed? Yes and no, let's say that in some episodes the trick works wonderfully, as in the beautiful crescendo of the opener "June," in the organic and essential stride of the singles "A Sky Full Of Song" and "Big God," and in the concluding duo "The End Of Love" and "No Choir." The arrangements become more sparse, Florence does her utmost to give a soul to the tracks with a truly sumptuous interpretation, and it takes very little (piano, strings, a few winds here and there) for the pieces to stand well on their own legs.

Elsewhere, the tendency to overdo it re-emerges; it's not always necessarily a bad thing, if it produces a great single like the overwhelming "Hunger" and the convincing duo "Grace" / "Patricia" (the latter a potential hit), but elsewhere it almost seems like a wobbly scaffold is being built just to support the redheaded singer-songwriter's momentum ("100 Years" is really too constructed, "South London Forever" is quite unclear about where it's trying to go despite a couple of good rhythmic solutions). The lyrics delve deeply into the artist's personal life, recalling even episodes of an increasingly distant adolescence, and they marry well with the musical offering of the British band.

A good album, which consolidates the position of Florence + The Machine and confirms them as a solid reality of the genre. However, potential artistic growth is still to be postponed to an unspecified future date.

Best track: "Big God"