Day 17: Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials

In honor of Gov. Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" comment (which will be largely forgotten by this time next year) I wanted to write about a female artist today. I have three lovely ladies in my life (two daughters and a beautiful wife, no polygamy happening here) and I will be listening to a lot of strong female vocalists in the near future. In fact, both my daughters love the song "Shake It Out" and sing it all the time.

I think this album played in my house for almost four consecutive months last winter. It was the perfect soundtrack to days that got dark at 5 pm. It sounds exactly like an album that would have been played in my dorm room on a late Thursday night in December as I diligently wrote a term paper at my desk.

Florence Welch (lead singer and main "dramatic" of the band) has a shock of red hair that is almost as bold as her voice. To top off this visual panace' is a sense of Victorian drama in her lyrics. She could easily be an opera singer in a Charles Dickens novel. This type of old-school performance charisma has endeared Florence + Machine to dramatic young ladies everywhere. The sheer "Englishness" of this album is on display on the first song "Only If For A Night" which sounds like a Shakespeare line. "No Light No Light" could have been a poem by John Donne and "What The Water Gave Me" sounds like a Percy B. Shelly poem.

All this literary hoo ha would be overwhelming if the songs didn't deliver. Thankfully they do. "Shake It Out" has a U2 like appeal (they were no doubt influenced by opening for that band the last few years). My favorite line on the album "It's hard to dance with the devil on your back" reminds me that a life lived with the freedom I have found in following Jesus is better than the heavy burden of living for myself. That may seem backward, but it is a beautifully true paradox of my life.

I'm with Florence when she says "never let me go".

5 stars.