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Thursday, June 4, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
Florence + the Machine’s
3rd LP is in need of quirk
ALBUM REVIEW
‘How Big, How Blue,
How Beautiful:’ a
break-up album
By MELINA GLUSAC
Daily Arts Writer
I first heard “Ship to Wreck”
driving home from work on one of
those out-of-the-blue sizzling May
afternoons. (Mich-
igan weather, you
keep any sense of
normalcy in check.
For that, I thank
you, I hate you, I
love you.) My caf-
feine buzz was long
gone as I collapsed
into the car around
4 p.m., unleashing
my pony tail and
rolling the win-
dows down all the
way so as to pump
my stomach free of the day’s air-
conditioning overdose. Hey, we do
what we have to.
To hear Florence at this point
in time was nothing less than fit-
ting — a gift, actually, bestowed
upon me by the almighty radio out
of pity, necessity and graciousness.
You see, Ms. Florence Welch doesn’t
just come on the radio. She yawps,
belches, even wails through your
speakers with that great throaty
voice that somehow reflects every
bit of longing, heartbreak and
ecstasy you’ve ever felt. Even at the
lowest volume, “Ship to Wreck” is
a characteristically epic, blossom-
ing tune. And it was perfect to hear
it after a long day, cruising down 8
Mile, wind in my hair. There was
something very Perks-of-Being-a-
Wallflower-y about it all.
So when How Big, How Blue,
How Beautiful came out, I expected
that aura of sad-happy infinity to
percolate. A beautiful record, to be
sure, Florence + the Machine’s third
installment in its already impressive
legacy is a bit pop-y, a lot devastat-
ing and often monotonous. We can’t
forget how Florence burst onto the
scene in 2009 with Lungs, a grace-
ful, harp-laced debut, and then fol-
lowed it up with 2011’s hauntingly
essential Ceremonials But How^3
ditches the one-word title pattern
(and, unfortunately, much inven-
tive energy) and amps up the mel-
ancholy — sometimes in the band’s
favor, sometimes not.
This is, first and foremost, a
break-up album. Every good one
has a standout song. For Flo and
the gang it’s “What Kind of Man,”
an ethereal-meets-angry build-up
melody that brings on the soul. It
starts out easy until Welch stomps
to the top of her royal soapbox
(reserved for ginger goddesses only)
to preach to her man about all his
emotional wrongdoing. What kind
of listener could resist this delicious
British disdain?
Welch tries happiness on for size
with “Delilah” and “Third Eye.”
The latter is a refreshingly stripped
number that has her handsomely
chanting, “Hey look up! You don’t
have to be a ghost here amongst the
living!” (Thanks, Flo!) “Delilah”
works just as well, with a catchy,
interesting intro and one raw drum
in the background. Joy suits Brits,
too.
The album’s title track, though,
sets the tone to snooze, and it’s hard
for even the most seasoned artists
to puncture that miasma of tired-
ness. “How Big, How Blue, How
Beautiful” and “Queen of Peace”
find Welch reveling in typical “Flor-
ence” territory — melodies that
rest on her lovely voice, a comfort-
able, often-visited key and tiringly
depressed lyrics. This is the band’s
main issue. All of that is pretty, but
after two and a half albums of it,
it’s nothing special anymore. Bring
back the harps or the weird lyrics
about sacrifice (see: “Rabbit Heart
(Raise It Up)”) or anything fresh,
for that matter. How Big, How Blue,
How Beautiful is in desperate need
of quirk.
Nevertheless, the album’s acous-
tic ballads shine. “Various Storms
& Saints” is a stunning journey to
simplistic instrumental land; Welch
weaves her softened-up way around
a sole electric guitar played as deli-
cately as an acoustic one, and the
result is ghostly, sexy and calm.
“Long & Lost” elicits similar inti-
macy with eerily ascending backup
whispers. And the sheer restraint
of “St. Jude” adds to serious refine-
ment — Welch controls her cry here
and shows she can still be mysteri-
ous while doing it. Clever girl.
“Caught,” perhaps the most pop
of the bunch, is charmingly sad. It’s
exactly the kind of song they play in
a rom-com after Girl and Boy break
up, during a montage of Girl doing
various mundane activities with
a little less “joie de vivre” because
something just doesn’t feel right.
Usually Girl or Boy then does some-
thing about that unsettled feeling,
and the movie ends with a great kiss
or reunion or splitting of a strand of
spaghetti.
Does this album do that in the
end? Does Florence make amends
with her elusive male muse, with all
things big and blue and (I’m assum-
ing, tragically) beautiful? Not quite.
But one listen to the otherworldly,
extro-spective symphony of hums,
drums and fuzzy guitars on the
closing “Mother” and you can’t help
but feel infinite again. She got there.
We got there. And at least the win-
dows were down along the way.
B-
How Big,
How Blue,
How
Beautiful
Florence +
the Machine
Island Records
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
“Imma wreck that ship”
‘Aquarius’ isn’t
binge-worthy TV
By MATT BARNAUSKAS
Daily Arts Writer
“Goddamn Hippies!” – Eric
Cartman, “South Park”
Set in 1967’s Summer of Love,
NBC’s “Aquar-
ius”
finds
itself
filled
with a bevy
of the weed-
smoking
counter
cul-
turists, ready
to say “man”
a million times and be annoyingly
uncooperative toward series pro-
tagonist, detective Sam Hodiak
(David Duchovny, “The X-Files”).
Filled with neo-noir overtones,
the show paints Hodiak as the typ-
ical grizzled veteran clashing with
the younger generation, embodied
by young undercover cop, Brian
Shafe (Grey Damon, “Twisted”).
True to type, Hodiak lives a lone-
ly life, with a soon-to-be ex-wife
(Jodi Harris, “Grey’s Anatomy”)
and a struggle to not slip back into
alcoholism, which he undoubtedly
succumbs to.
Hodiak’s life becomes a lot more
interesting, though, when a former
lover, Grace (Michaela McMa-
nus, “Awake”), asks him to help
locate her daughter Emma (Emma
Dumont, “Inherent Vice”), who
has run away from home and taken
up with what happens to be the
eventual Manson Family, led by the
Charlie Manson (Gethin Anthony,
“Game of Thrones”) himself.
NBC has staked an inter-
est in the series, putting all epi-
sodes online, available to stream
instantly. It’s a bold move by the
network in an industry that has
been upheaved by the presence of
Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.
However, “Aquarius” lacks the
inherent binge-ability present in
series such as “House of Cards”
and “Orange is the New Black.”
The biggest issue present in its
early episodes is that “Aquarius”
struggles to establish a forward
momentum necessary to convince
a viewer to plunge themselves
down the rabbit hole and watch
multiple episodes in one sitting.
Hodiak’s storyline unfortunately
gets bogged down in a case-of-
the-week structure that looks to
serve as a Sparknotes guide to all
the issues that were brewing dur-
ing the late 1960s. A notable exam-
ple is African-American activist,
Bunchy (Gaius Charles, “Friday
Night Lights”), who starts as a
member of the Nation of Islam in
the second episode and then con-
verts to the Black Panther Party
by the fifth. Bunchy’s change is
never fully seen during the initial
episodes, just the result. Instead
of feeling organic, his evolution is
reduced to a plot point by the writ-
ers so they can continue crafting
their ’60s historical primer.
The proto-Manson family also
struggles. While Anthony pres-
ents Manson with solid contrast
of menacing and delusional, his
storyline about wanting to enter
the music business and the life
within his commune, while based
on Manson’s life, doesn’t make for
very exciting content. Manson is at
his best when he’s trying to force
people to bend to his will, prey-
ing on their fears and insecurities
while presenting himself as either
a savior or executioner. But the end
goals, like getting a demo recorded,
are incredibly low stakes.
Emma’s presence doesn’t aid
the Manson storyline either. The
character is just dull, serving as
the conventionally misunderstood
teen, whose parents are too busy
arguing to pay attention to how
hard she has it as an attractive
upper-class white girl. The only
entertainment the character gives
is an unintentionally hilarious
acid trip near the end of Episode
4, filled with bad acting and worse
effects.
Seeped in sepia tones, “Aquar-
ius” does present an intriguing
setting for a noir-influenced show.
The social conflicts are present;
one case involving a cop and a
Black teenager being choked to
death eerily echoes with current
events. Duchovny is more than
serviceable as a troubled detec-
tive trying to do right within an
increasingly apathetic precinct.
However, the tendency of the
show to fall back to familiar pro-
cedural formulas while never fully
creating an engrossing overarch-
ing narrative prevents “Aquarius”
from being the binge-worthy show
it hopes to be.
TV REVIEW
C-
Aquarius
Series Premiere
NBC