Dance Fever - Florence + The Machine (2022)
Ideated from: ending the year with some of my favorites of 2022 that I hadn’t written up yet.
Florence Welch, as a songwriter, is all over the place. She can veer from the conversational everyday to grandiose philosophy. And she usually has a reason behind including both, as the band’s records develop ideas across multiple songs.
The idea of Choreomania, if you aren’t familiar, is dancing to the point of exhaustion and ecstacy, an idea that goes back to shamanistic rituals older than language, but also the kind of thing you see all over the place and maybe don’t recognize.
That’s the grandiose part. Then she uses that as a lens to look more at her day to day feelings and struggles. There is some really brilliant lyrical stuff here. It shouldn’t be lost in the top-notch music the rest of the band provides. Build and release dynamics, but with so much style and grace that the crescendo sneaks up on you.
Tracks I Liked
Free - truly one of the best tracks of the year. Transcendent
Choreomania - mentioned above. The keystone of the album
Girls Against God / Dream Girl Evil - a one-two punch with a little bit of everything: faith, devotion, obsession, love, desire.
My Love - Serious and joyous at the same time, like a lot of this.
Search And Destroy - if you find an expanded edition that includes their cover of Iggy & The Stooges’ standard, you should definitely donate a few minutes to to this worthy cause.
