‘What The Water Gave Me’, the first taste of Florence and the Machine’s as yet untitled second album has been unveiled on the band’s official website.
“It’s a song for the water…” says Florence; “Because in music and art what I’m really interested in are the things that are overwhelming. The ocean seems to me to be nature’s great overwhelmer. When I was writing this song I was thinking a lot about all those people who’ve lost their lives in vain attempts to save their loved ones from drowning. It’s about water in all forms and all bodies.”
The song was inspired by the painting of the same name by Frieda Kahlo as well as by the death of Virginia Woolf whose method of suicide is cited in the refrain of the chorus ‘pockets full of stones’ (Woolf famously drowned herself by filling her overcoat pockets with stones and walking in to a river). However, Florence’s gift has always been turning the macabre to the euphoric as songs like ‘Drumming Song’ and ‘Kiss With A Fist’ on her debut offering Lungs demonstrated and she does it with emphatic effect here.
It’s a combination of bombastic gospel and subtle delicacies in the main vocal, especially in the build up to the song’s final release of energy, that has you forgetting the dark lyrical tones and allowing yourself to get swept away with the joyous melodies.
The new LP is released on November 7th and is all set to be a cracker.
