Florence and the Machine — High As Hope

Florence Welch is a truly special voice in the music world and it’s no wonder this 31-year-old out of the UK has seen so much success with her first three albums. High As Hope marks her fourth release with the Machine, and it’s another epic and elegant set of emotionally tugging orchestral pop.

Welch’s dominating vocals have a way of making you listen to every word she delivers. There’s a beautiful tremble to her voice and her emotion is felt in the most grandiose moments and the most subtle. Upon first listen, the album may come off a bit tame, but it doesn’t take long to see the strength in these songs.

This is the first album where Welch has been named a co-producer and she plays with a more stripped-down production style. With Florence and the Machine (FATM), it’s really Welch’s voice that carries each song. The instrumentation seems to merely compliment her, providing a bed for her cries, a wave for her voice to ride.

At its best, this album is passionate and emotionally rewarding, but what it lacks is anything completely fresh and exciting. While each of the ten tracks stand on their own and are great representations of Welch’s intimate song writing abilities, there’s something holding them back from reaching best of the year status for me. It’s an album worth keeping around and there’s a chance I’ll find deeper connections with some of these tracks over time, but for now they’ll remain nothing more than lovely additions to the FATM discography. 7.5/10