FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Florence + the Machine Return, Quietly, with "Sky Full of Song"

The English group's first single and video since 2016 is something a bit more muted, but still rapturous in its own way.

One of Florence + the Machine's most recent big singles was its cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" for Final Fantasy XV, which makes sense given that Florence Welch's voice is the auditory equivalent of summoning the thunder spirit Ramuh in-game to smite your foes (the game kinda sucked but damn, were those summons impressive). The group's last album came out in 2015, (though they released another soundtrack cut in 2016) and they're now back with a new single called "Sky Full of Song" which is less "god rays parting the clouds" and more "hold this to your heart as you quietly reminisce on your life."

Advertisement

The song's a quietly powerful folk-soul stunner, with no climactic festival-ready dynamic shift on the chorus, instead subtly building with a typically baroque string section. Fitting the simple construction, the A.G. Rojas-directed video is in black-and-white and follows Welch as she emotes on a sound stage. There's no official album announcement yet, but NME reports there is evidence to suggest that one is possibly coming out this year. You can watch and listen to "Sky Full of Song" above.

Phil is on Twitter.