Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials

Artist: Florence + the Machine

Album: Ceremonials

 Year: November 2011

Length: 55 minutes, 58 seconds

Genre: Baroque pop/art rock

Why I picked it up: Heard 'What the Water Gave Me' on the radio, liked it, sister played me some more songs, I was intrigued

Favourite tracks: Only If for a Night, No Light No Light, Shake It Out

Random lyric:

Purchases: Amazon | iTunes | Check your local music store!

I never thought I would consider myself a Florence + the Machine fan. There are a lot of female singers out there with songwriting abilities, but I tired of them quickly. I was not a fan of the Dog Days Are Over or whatever it's called, and I quickly came to despise the song due the amount of times I heard it while driving. I didn't really care for the rest of her first album (my sister played it in the car sometimes and I decided it wasn't anything special for me)So, I was very pleased with when I heard What The Water Gave Me. My sister bought Ceremonials after Christmas, I put it on my computer, gave it a listen, and I am ever so happy to report that Ceremonials is a whole different beast from Lungs.


Ceremonials is an album full of deep, intense, emotional tracks that properly showcase Florence's voice. The Dogs Day song (or whatever it's called...) did not do this in the way that most of the songs on Ceremonials do. If you gave the above video a play (and why wouldn't you!), you'll see what I mean. This is a solid track. While I was researching the album, I came across the term baroque pop and while I don't think I've ever listened to anything that could be described as such before I came across this album, I think it's a very fitting term.

When I use the term deep, I'm referring both to the heavier sounds and beats as well as the emotional pull of the songs. I get the same sort of feeling (though not quite as intense, which I believe is due to the different styles of music) when listening to Ceremonials as I do when listening to Imaginaerum. These are solid tracks that reach down into my heart and grab onto something in there. Only If For A Night is an incredible song for me that just pulls me into its lyrics, its music, its story. It means so very much for me (the lyrics!!) I want to crank it up and dance and sing my heart out whenever I hear it. There are some tracks that just don't it for me and that's okay. It would be too much if every song evoked the same emotion in me as the first three tracks, and others, do. The songs that I love the most, in order (the first two songs have a clear lead in my mind, the next five are very close):

• Only If For a Night
• No Light No Light
• Seven Devils/Shake It Out (tied)
• What the Water Gave Me/Spectrum (tied)
• All This and Heaven Too/Leave My Body (tied)

Between this album and Imaginaerum my music blogs have gotten a little mushy and messy and not very specific. It's hard to describe this feeling without sounding like a sap! But in all honesty, there is nothing I love more than music that gives you that feeling and you can't really describe why. That's when you know you're listening to something good.