In 2011, Florence + the Machine released their second studio album, 'Ceremonials', which was their second consecutive release to peak at number one on the UK Albums Chart, as well as the first to reach the top 10 of the US Billboard 200, peaking at number six. In late August 2012 Welch announced that she would be taking a year-long break from music, although it wasn't as relaxing as it sounds, as she apparently had "a bit of a nervous breakdown", and that time off was fairly chaotic. The break was new for her, having been almost constantly at work during the making of the band's first two albums, but the break did allow her to reassess her musical approach to reflect her own life experiences. Welch began composing the material for the next album after concluding the band's touring in support of 'Ceremonials' in 2014, and at one point it was to be a concept album about a witch that goes on trial. The song 'Which Witch' was actually the beginning of this idea of a young witch who is utterly in love with someone, and then an accident occurs and he dies, and people think that she was responsible for his death, and she is put on trial for his murder.
After this idea was ditched, she wrote some songs which referenced characters from Greek mythology, and at one point the album was going to be titled 'Tantalus', after the figure who was cursed by the gods to stand in a pool of water under a fruit tree, so that he could see the fruit but he was never able to get it, and he could see the water but was never be able to drink it. Welch felt that this concept was very present in the record, in that she could see the result that she wanted, but she just couldn't reach it. This idea was also abandoned, and work carried on in earnest on new songs, with the retitled 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' being released on 29 May 2015 by Island Records. In comparison to the band's two previous studio albums, it was much more refined and stripped-down instrumentally, and incorporates a mixture of musical influences such as folk, blues and gospel, and it was met with positive reviews from music critics, who commended the album for its cohesion, production and Welch's vocal delivery. It's come to light that a title track for the 'Tantalus' concept was recorded, along with some other songs which didn't make the revised track-listing, while the following year the band released a number of non-album tracks for use on film, TV, and video games. By collecting these stray recordings we can compile a follow-up to 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful', which could have been released around 2016. It's a surprisingly cohesive album, and even includes a rewrite of Dua Lipa's 'Electricity', after composers Mark Ronson and Diplo struggled to complete the song, and Welch added new lyrics to their backing track.
Track listing
01 As Far As I Could Get (bonus track from 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful')
02 Honey (out-take)
03 Baptize (re-write of 'Electricity' by Dua Lipa)
04 I Will Be (from the video game 'Songs From 'Final Fantasy XV' EP')
05 Tantalus (out-take)
06 Pure Feeling (bonus track from 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful')
07 Throwing Bricks (out-take)
08 Too Much Is Never Enough (from the video game 'Songs From 'Final Fantasy XV' EP')
09 Wish That You Were Here (from the film 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children')
10 Jenny Of Oldstones (from the TV series 'Game Of Thrones')
11 Covered In Blood (WTF) (out-take)
