"The title track on "Everybody Scream," the new album by Florence and the Machine, opens with a synth organ layered over an eerie choral harmony. In the video, directed by Autumn de Wilde, Florence Welch stands on a low stage in a sixteenth-century manor house with a crowd of people-old men in suits, women in black gowns-convulsing around her, as if she is leading a mass exorcism."
"A coven of witches in white blouses and long skirts leap onto tables, eyes bulging and teeth bared. Welch, who is wearing a crimson-red dress and matching heels, spits flowers onto a man as she writhes over him. Somehow, it works. Known for her red hair, bohemian dress, and pagan-inspired lyrics, Welch has brought gothic fanfare to pop music for nearly two decades."
"During the songwriting process, she steeped herself in the horror canon, studying occultism at the Warburg Institute and reading books such as Rob Young's "Electric Eden," which traces how British folk music in the sixties and seventies began to cross over with mysticism. "Doing the work and sleeping alone / downloading Revelations of Divine Love on my phone," she sings wryly, on "Perfume and Milk.""
Florence Welch's sixth album, Everybody Scream, embraces horror-film aesthetics and gothic theatrics across music and visuals. The title track features a synth organ and eerie choral harmonies while the Autumn de Wilde-directed video stages a mass-exorcism tableau in a sixteenth-century manor. Welch leans into pagan and occult imagery, describing performances as an "agnostic church" and using her sonorous, ethereal voice as a central instrument. Songwriting involved intensive study of occultism and British folk mysticism, including research at the Warburg Institute and reading Rob Young's Electric Eden. The album rollout included a Halloween release and camp-inflected promotional material.
Read at The New Yorker
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