With 2011’s ‘Ceremonials’, Florence Welch cemented her status as pop-gothess. Her blend of quiet/loud indie tuneage, ye olde lyrical references and a new control in her voice meant that on ‘Ceremonials’ she stepped up a gear.
This track, taken from the forthcoming Kirsten Stewart-starring Snow White And The Huntsmen film, is very much cut from the same cloth as ‘Ceremonials’ and finds a natural partner with the darker tracks on that album (‘What The Water Gave Me’, ‘Seven Devils’).
Those resounding, tribal drums are paired up a Greek Chorus of backing vocalists (a 60 piece choir it turns out!). These elements, plus the searching orchestration, give the track a widescreen depth and are, you’d imagine, an appropriately faux-gothic addition to a film about Snow White starring one of the Twilight cast.
The bridge finds Florence’s vocals blending with the phalanx of voices (appropriate for the “all the choirs in my head,”) lyric. If she’s set to continue down this path of musical bombast, it feels like the next logical step for her to take.
These interesting arrangements and production flourishes help give the track a sense of much-needed pageantry however, though musically it lacks the deep pop hooks of Florence’s best work and instead really only succeeds as a mood piece. And as she sings of “losing my mind” and “heavenly life“, it touches dangerously on self-parody.
Priya Elan