Florence and the Machine: "Shake It Out" (original) (raw)

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On her debut album Lungs, British power vocalist Florence Welch showed a lot of range, sometimes to the point of distraction. She incorporated bells and whistles into her songs at every turn-- theatrical harp plucking, garage-rock backdrops, noirish narratives. But who needs that sort of nuance or variety when you can make a pure pop song as impossibly huge-sounding as "Shake It Out"? The first single off her forthcoming LP Ceremonials is even more massively anthemic than the already-anthemic singles off Lungs. Huge drum hits drive the track from the onset, and Welch's voice is in peak form throughout, nearly spilling over the edge as of the song. She clearly has a lot of weapons at her disposal, but "Shake It Out" reveals pure adrenaline as her most powerful.

[from _Ceremonials_; out 10/31/11 in the UK via Island and 11/01/11 in the U.S. via Universal Republic]

Carrie Battan began writing for Pitchfork in 2011. Her work has also appeared in The Boston Globe, New York, Slate, and elsewhere. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, she now lives in New York.

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