Ceremonials
Ceremonials is the second studio album by English indie rock band Florence and the Machine. It was released on 28 October 2011 by Island Records. The band started working on the album in 2010 and finished it in 2011. The standard edition of the album was entirely produced by Paul Epworth, who also worked prominently on the band's debut album Lungs.
Ceremonials received generally positive reviews from music critics, who drew comparisons to artists such as Kate Bush, while also praising the instrumentation, Florence Welch's vocals and the production of the songs. It appeared on several year-end critics' lists in late 2011. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the album received a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album, while "Shake It Out" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Ceremonials debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's second consecutive number-one album. It also debuted at number one in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, and peaked at number six on the US Billboard 200, becoming the band's first top-10 album in the United States. It has sold 2 million copies worldwide.
Five singles were released from Ceremonials. "What the Water Gave Me" was released on 23 August 2011 as a teaser for the album. "Shake It Out" was released on 30 September 2011 as the album's official lead single, becoming one of the band's most commercially successful singles to date. "No Light, No Light" was released on 16 January 2012 as the second single from the album, and "Never Let Me Go" was released on 30 March 2012. "Spectrum " was released on 5 July 2012, and fuelled by a remix by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, became Florence and the Machine's first number-one single in the UK. The album's fifth and final single, "Lover to Lover", was released on 30 November 2012. Ceremonials was also promoted by the band by a worldwide tour, the Ceremonials Tour. The album's sound is described as baroque pop, art pop, indie pop, neo soul, power pop and gothic pop.
Background
NME magazine confirmed that after the release of the song "Heavy in Your Arms" for the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, lead singer Florence Welch entered the studio for a two-week session to record with producer Paul Epworth, with whom she worked on the band's debut album, Lungs. She said that the two recordings that came out of that session were inspired by science because "a lot of her family are doctors or trying to become doctors, so much of her conversations are fixated on medical stuff." In an interview with the Gibson website on 17 February 2011, guitarist Rob Ackroyd stated, "Work on the second album has begun with Paul Epworth and there is talk of booking out Abbey Road for a month in April/May to record." In June 2011, Epworth told BBC 6 Music that the album would probably be finished "by the end of July" and described the sound as "a lot less indie and lot more soulful". He also indicated that there were 16 songs up for inclusion on the album, but that this would be reduced upon the time of release. Pitchfork confirmed on 23 August 2011 that the album was produced solely by Epworth. On 12 September 2011, Canadian radio broadcaster Alan Cross revealed that Florence and the Machine's second album would be titled Ceremonials. He also commented on the album by saying, "I've heard a little more than half the record and it is big, soulful and powerful. Think Adele or Tori Amos but with some serious Kate Bush DNA, especially with the rhythm section."Regarding the album's title, Welch told MTV News, "It was an art installation done in the '70s, this video piece all done on Super 8, this big procession of kind of coquette-style hippies and all these different colored robes and masks, and it was all to do with color, really saturated, brightly colored pastas and balloons. I saw it a couple years ago, and it was called 'Ceremonials' and then, like, Roman numerals after it. And the word sort of stuck with me, and I think the whole idea of performance, and kind of putting on this outfit and going out almost to find some sort of exorcism or absolution, to kind of get outside yourself, there's a sense of ceremony to it." Welch also revealed that she wanted to call the album Violence, stating, "I wanted to make an album that sounded like the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, the violence mixed with the classical Shakespearean drama mixed with the pop and the pulp, extreme neon stuff." In an interview with The Guardian, she described the album as "much bigger" and categorised its genre as "chamber soul", a mixture of chamber pop and soul. The liner notes of Ceremonials contain an essay by English writer Emma Forrest, dated 21 September 2011.
Promotion
The song "Strangeness and Charm"—which was ultimately included on the deluxe edition of Ceremonials—was debuted on 2 May 2010 at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, during the band's Cosmic Love Tour. The song was later recorded live at the Hammersmith Apollo on another stop of The Cosmic Love Tour and was included on the re-release of Lungs, titled Between Two Lungs, along with other live tracks and previously unreleased B-sides. Welch describes the song as "about seven minutes long and pretty relentless" and also "dancey, but it's also dark as well", featuring "relentless drums and heavy, droning bass." During their North American tour, Florence and the Machine debuted "What the Water Gave Me" at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, on 12 June 2011. On 23 August 2011, the song was released as a promotional single from the album, along with an accompanying music video.Florence and the Machine embarked on several live performances to promote Ceremonials. The band premiered four tracks from the album—"Only If for a Night", "Never Let Me Go", "Heartlines" and "Spectrum"—at The Creators Project, a partnership between Vice and Intel, in Brooklyn's Dumbo neighbourhood on 15 October 2011. They launched the album with an exclusive gig at the Hackney Empire in London on 25 October, which was live-streamed on The Guardian website. On 1 November, they performed "What the Water Gave Me" and "No Light, No Light" on the British music television show Later... with Jools Holland. On 6 November, the band made their first appearance on The X Factor, where they performed "Shake It Out" on the double elimination results show. "Shake It Out" was also performed on the Irish late-night talk show The Late Late Show, The X Factor Australia and Good Morning America.
They performed "Shake It Out" and "What the Water Gave Me" on the Canal+ show La Musicale in France on 18 November. The following day, Florence and the Machine appeared on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live for the second time, performing "Shake It Out" and "No Light, No Light". The group stopped by BBC Radio 1 on 25 November for a special Live Lounge set, which included performances of "Shake It Out", "What the Water Gave Me", "Rabbit Heart ", "Dog Days Are Over" and "No Light, No Light", as well as a cover of "Take Care" by Drake featuring Rihanna. They performed "Spectrum" on The X Factor USA semi-final results show on 15 December. The band performed at the Los Angeles portion of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, which was broadcast live on 31 December on ABC. The band performed "No Light, No Light" at the 2012 Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in on 21 February 2012. On 2 July 2012, a music video for "Breaking Down" was officially released.
Singles
"What the Water Gave Me" was released on 23 August 2011 as the first taster of Ceremonials. The promotional single debuted at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. It saw moderate chart success elsewhere, reaching number 13 in Ireland, number 15 in New Zealand and number 35 in Australia."Shake It Out" was released as the album's official lead single on 30 September 2011. It premiered exclusively on XFM London on 14 September 2011. The song peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Florence and the Machine's fourth top-20 single. Internationally, it reached number two on the Irish Singles Chart, while charting inside the top 20 in Austria, New Zealand and Norway, the top 30 in Germany and Switzerland, the top 40 in Australia, and the top 50 in Sweden.
"No Light, No Light" was released on 13 January 2012 as the second single from the album. The single reached number 63 on the UK Singles Chart. The accompanying video, released on 18 November 2011, caused controversy after it was accused of racism due to its perceived use of blackface by an actor in the video, and was also criticised for its depiction of voodoo.
"Never Let Me Go" was released on 30 March 2012 as the third single from the album. The music video was released on 7 March 2012. The track charted at number 82 in the UK, while reaching number three in Australia, the band's highest-peaking single in that country to date.
A remix of "Spectrum" by Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris, subtitled "Say My Name", was released on 5 July 2012 as the album's fourth single. It became the band's first number-one single in both the UK and Ireland.
"Lover to Lover" was released as the fifth and final single from the album on 30 November 2012. Directed by Vincent Haycock, the music video debuted on 19 November and features a new single version of the song.