Florence + The Machine Share “Sky Full of Song,” Their First New Song Since 2016
Photo by Vincent Haycock
Today’s weather forecast calls for a “Sky Full of Song,” which is to say that Florence + The Machine are back with new music, their first since 2016. Florence Welch and company will release the song on Record Store Day, April 21, as a limited-edition, double A-side vinyl 7”.
“This was a song that just fell out of the sky fully formed. Sometimes when you are performing you get so high, it’s hard to know how to come down,” says Welch. “There is this feeling of being cracked open, rushing endlessly outwards and upwards, and wanting somebody to hold you still, bring you back to yourself. It’s an incredible, celestial, but somehow lonely feeling.”
Welch’s voice is central to the rather subdued “Sky Full of Song,” which surrounds her only with stark bass notes, layered backing vocals and faint horns. “I thought I was flying / but maybe I’m dying tonight,” Welch sings as strings crescendo beneath her, the only sign of Florence + The Machine’s typical soaring theatrics. The video is similarly unadorned, interspersing abstract visuals with black-and-white shots of a supine, singing Welch.