SINGING USELESS MAGIC — IS FLORENCE WELCH AN OPEN BOOK? (2018)
Preface
Today in the reading corner of our Ellenwood EP book club we are thrilled to be talking about one of the most outstanding music-related releases, a book of poetry called Useless Magic by none other than Florence Welch. Having written a repertoire of songs that anchored her position in the world of art, she gathered some of her poetic bits and pieces and released the most intimate insight into the process of bringing music to live.
Chapter 1: The Diary Of Florence
Useless Magic is a beautiful diary of an artist. In this collection of poetry, scribbled notes and pictures Florence has created a palette of feelings for us to read like an open book. It’s a chronological journey through the stages of her career divided into chapters according to the release of her four albums. The book is an escapist journal where every single page contains something special straight from Florence’s artistic reality. Be it a drawing, a single line scribbled on a napkin or a full-blown poem — creative magic is bursting out of this treasure of a book.
Chapter 2: A Poem In A Song, A Song In A Poem
I don’t know what makes a song a song and a poem a poem: they have started to bleed into each other at this stage.
Personally, I have never distinguished between the two either. A song is a poem mantled with musical arrangements, with instrumentals and melody. But lyrics are still poems and poems are lyrics — this is exactly what this book is about. On my part, I urge you to open it on page 42. You’ll find the lyrics to Florence’s “Cosmic Love” from her first album Lungs. Don’t sing it, I know it’s tempting, but try to read the lyrics. All of a sudden it is a poem, isn’t it? Such is the power of Useless Magic.
Chapter 3: High As Hope
Now that we answered Florence’s invitation into her mind and heart through the book, we also have the latest album to savor. High As Hope is calmer and more transparent in meaning than the previous releases. Florence, a hurricane who has always been more comfortable in chaos, made High As Hope very well organized. Every song is a separate entity and tells a different story. From “Grace”, about ruining her sister’s birthday, to “Big God” and its vibrant music video, most of the songs are stripped down, slightly dramatic, with choirs and pathos for which we love Florence so much. Even “Hunger” and “Patricia”, the only upbeat songs on the record, actually highlight the overall tone of depth. We had high hopes for this album and we got High As Hope, fair enough.
Epilogue
With every page of the book and every song on the album you’ll get more and more inspired. Florence’s iconic verses will resonate in your mind guiding you through the story of your own. Such magic, ever reaching high as hope, is far from useless.
