I generally don’t get very excited about new releases. Sometimes I’ll check out something new by an artist close to when it’s released, sometimes I won’t – depends on my mood and what I’m into at that moment. Case in point: The Church, one of my top 10 bands for the last 40 years, has a new album coming out. But right now, my head’s not really in that space, and I’m not rushing to preorder – maybe I’ll get it, maybe I won’t. There’s very little that I need to have.
However: this was an album that I needed to have, the day it came out. The video for “Free,” featuring the incredible actor Bill Nighy, came out a few weeks before and definitely helped ramp up my excitement over the release, and on release day I made absolutely sure to get down to Forever Changes. and demand my copy! The owner, Shawn, was as excited about it as I was, and man did this become the album of the summer. It’s a stunning bit of work, truly, and while she means it to tell a fairytale of sorts (this isn’t about Deney Terrio’s “Dance Fever”), it has a real emotional connection. The style is much more driving, more immediate than her last album, “High As Hope,” which I loved. She’s definitely doing something different here. Even more personal and pained in some ways than “High As Hope.” One thing I like in the more recent Florence albums is her ability to paint her struggles with addiction in such a beautiful, resonant way – it’s about the power of that pull, the sweetness of the danger, the lostness. That all comes across.
It is also, like all her releases, beautifully designed and packaged, and more labels could take a page from this book: I’m paying a premium for this experience, so give me the experience. Give me beautiful graphics, give me lyrics sheets (should be required by law, honestly), give me custom labels. Give me a goddamn entirely decorative fourth side!
I almost never point to services that promote streaming, but I have to acknowledge that Apple has an interview with Florence explaining each of these songs in her own words, and it’s worth a look.