UK it-band Florence and the Machine released “What the Water Gave Me” Aug. 23, dropping the first seed of anticipation for its forthcoming, currently unnamed sophomore album. If the new track is a sign of what’s to come, Flo fans can breathe easy. Welch hasn’t abandoned her ethereal roots or cathartic howling, nor has she simply reproduced a track from Lungs. On “What the Water Gave Me,” the band gives its talents—namely, crafting effortless mini-symphonies and haunting lyrics—a little water and sunshine, polishing and maturing its dramatic sound.
That polish might have something to do with star indie producer Paul Epworth, who has worked with Adele, Cee Lo Green, Bloc Party, Friendly Fires and The Rapture. He co-wrote the best tracks from Lungs, including “Cosmic Love,” “Howl” and “Hurricane Drunk,” and lends his golden producer’s touch to “What the Water Gave Me.”
At a California show in June, Welch said she was inspired by “nature’s great overwhelmer”—the ocean:
“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,” she said. “It’s about water in all forms and all bodies. It’s about a lot of things; Virginia Woolf creeps into it, and of course Frida Kahlo, whose painfully beautiful painting gave me the title.”
The surrealist Kahlo piece depicts the painter’s memories and thoughts reflected in bathwater, but Welch takes the painting a step further. The burdened singer drowns herself in the water that reflects her memories and thoughts, stuffing pebbles in her pockets a la Virginia Woolf.
The song begins with soft lyrics and a dark, understated guitar, and ends with a crescendo of strings and Welch belting over a gospel—a style very much in line with the baroque-dance ballads of Lungs. Welch references a relationship throughout the narrative, but the lyrics are inconclusive: Is the romance one more stone in her overwhelmed pocket, or is her lover trying to save her? This vagueness is, again, in line with Welch’s freshman material. But what will surprise those familiar with Welch and her mates is how they now seem in control of their sound. Tracks from Lungs have been criticized for their ethereal tangents and lack of cohesion, but all the stars—which Welch frequently waxes on about—align for the new track.
Maybe it’s the magic of Epworth, or his studio of choice—that’s Abbey Road, to you. Or perhaps the song’s seamlessness stems from the pressure that comes from becoming an overnight hit.
Florence and the Machine isn’t exactly a household name, but it was utterly foreign to most Americans prior to the band’s performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last September. There, Welch performed “Dog Days Are Over,” a catchy single orchestrated for the silver screen by a So You Think You Can Dance choreographer less than a year after the band’s first U.S. performance. In the week after the performance, the single was downloaded nearly 100,000 times — a 250 percent increase from the previous week and a boost that put the band in the Billboard Top 30. Three months later, Welch appeared on the cover of Spin, proclaimed as the Artist of the Year. Two months after that, she was invited to perform at the Grammy Awards in a tribute to Aretha Franklin.
By all accounts, the award show performance thrust Welch into the American mainstream, an event that helps illustrate a growing trend in indie-mainstream crossovers. Two weeks after Arcade Fire performed at the Grammys—and won Album of the Year—The Suburbs jumped from 52 to 12 on the Billboard 200, eventually peaking at No. 1. Booking an award show seems to be the new way for indie musicians to find commercial success. Arcade Fire was a critic’s darling before its big-time performance, as was Florence and the Machine—the question is, will their new-found fame influence their post-exposure music? If “What the Water Gave Us” offers any answer, it’s an emphatic, dramatic yes—and in the right direction.
