Florence + the Machine - Dance Fever
Indie Rock – Released May 13, 2022 – 14 songs, 47 mins
ROZ
Dance Fever is the fifth studio album from the English phenom Florence Welch and her world famous machine. Written and recorded during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, one would expect it to reflect the thoughts and feelings of the masses at the time. Dance Fever you say? Let’s take that temperature - actually no, let’s check the Sweetmeter first.
As predicted, the substance of this album reflects all of the doom, gloom and misery that encapsulated the planet for the better part of the last three years (and counting). It is of no surprise that the hypersensitivity of a music artist's life and psyche would take a major hit during a lockdown driven, worldwide pandemic, and Fever Dream bears no exception. Florence Welch, with her melancholic and objectively beautiful voice completely overtakes all elements of every song on the listing, which at some points make it seem as though there is no machine at all. The stylistic qualities do not stray from the bands previous efforts as the leading ladies vocals are met with heaps of echo and reverberation effects, adding even more volume and size to the already overbearing element at play - the vocal that is firmly posted front and center.
It is simply difficult not to have a sense of fatigue over the message that Dance Fever is attempting to emote. COVID-19 has been a focal point in many news cycles and many, many music albums and at this point it’s getting harder and harder not to feel exhausted reviewing yet another pandemic themed venture. That isn't to say there aren’t some fantastic songs on this album - predominantly, Free’s simple, yet catchy chorus dug itself deep and made a home for the entirety of my week. At the end of the day however this album, while having some great attributes, simply lacked uniqueness in the area that I hold nearest and dearest: the instrumentation, which ultimately seemed like an afterthought. Florence, you’re great - but your machine needs oil.
Overall Rating: 6.7/10
Favourite Song: Free
REID
The year was 2015. Osheaga was the big summer trip and Florence + the Machine was a headliner, along with Kendrick Lamar and The Black Keys. Excitement was high for the latter two but the Friday headliner, Florence, was a relative unknown. My sister was into them but all I knew was their single, Dog Days, from years prior. General pre-listening for the festival began and the band had just released How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. It really grew on me and I was stoked for her electric live show along with Lundi, Roz and Jimmy. Well…long story short, Lundi and I missed the entire Friday lineup because our flight was bumped due to fog.. in July. Classic Newfoundland. Clearly I’m still not over it. Florence and the Machine return with their fifth studio album, Dance Fever.
Let’s start with the positives. Florence Welch’s voice. One thing you can count on with a FATM record are many moments of sheer gratitude for her talent. It truly is beautiful song in and song out and every now and then it’s cool to pull up a live performance and see her pump it out while running around bare foot. Her lyrics are also powerful, delivering messages of empowering women, relationship unavailability and dancing, amongst other things. ‘You said that rock n’ roll is dead but is that just because it hasn’t been resurrected in your image?’ (Choreomania), is a favourite line of mine as it is relevant to many folks stuck in their generation’s era of music, unwilling to give today’s stuff a shot.
Next up is the questionable. No matter your stance on the COVID-19 pandemic, the overwhelming societal sentiment worldwide is we’re moving forward and doing our best to live with it. It’s been this way for quite some time now. So the timing of Dance Fever feels a bit off. Since beginning TSR during the lockdowns, we’ve had the pleasure of listening to and reviewing many artists’ renditions. This one missed the deadline.
The bad is the lack of balance musically. Dance Fever is the album version of a grade school or post-secondary group project. Remember when one person with the big brain takes the bull by the horns and completes 80% and the remaining 20% is picked up by the three slackers? Florence does all the work. The band name signifies her as the focal point but there’s a difference between that and being the only component of relevance. There’s simply not enough there and it leaves you wanting more.
Fans of Florence + the Machine will be stoked to hear new tunes and elated the band’s star still got it. Unfortunately, she’s left to do the lion’s share of the work as aside from a couple of songs, Dance Fever is sorely lacking instrumentally. Music is the sum of parts and expecting Florence to shoulder the full load is like using Charizard’s flamethrower attack on Squirtle – not very effective.
Overall Rating – 6.3/10
Favourite Song - Choreomania
LUNDI
Florence + the Machine experienced a meteoric rise in fame in the early 2010’s backed by two excellent albums (Lungs, Ceremonials) and an uncanny cinematic live stage performance from front woman Florence Welch. Since then the bands musical output has thrilled devout fans yet whelmed the music industry as they seem content to stay in their place and rely on the live experience. Florence’s latest effort and third since Ceremonials, Dance Fever, does little to change that notion.
Dance Fever is the most open and honest the music industry has seen Welch in her lyrics. She’s raw and emotional about the impacts that COVID isolation and loneliness left on her mental state. But as the world moves beyond the pandemic it feels a bit like the album came a year too late. Most people will feel personal changes from the pandemic forever and perhaps it just took her this long to really understand her new self, but you can’t help but feel the timing is off with the albums message. This results in the album being a tough overall listen.
While her message may struggle to hit, there’s no denying the power of Welch’s vocals. She is the upper echelon in the rock world and on a base vocal level she can stand toe to toe with fellow English singer and icon, Adele. It should not be taken lightly the greatness that fronts this band. She shines on every single song on the album with a vocal prowess that continues to amaze.
While it’s certainly no trouble to get completely lost in the vocal range of Florence Welch the album is problematic in relying on it so heavily. On a fair majority of the tracks there is a minimalistic backing band approach with quieted instruments supporting. It may be planned this way to support the underlying message of isolation and loneliness but it ends up making the total product easy to forget. The albums best tracks, King and Free are the rare moments where her band offers up some help. This album isn’t exactly bad, there’s just simply no staying power.
A valiant and heartfelt effort carried by one of the greatest voices in music. Unfortunately the total package ends up being mostly forgettable.
Overall Rating: 6.0/10
Favourite Song: Free