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 (2009).
For the ritual, see Ceremony.Ceremonials
28 October 2011
2010–2011
Abbey Road and Wolf Tone, London
55:58
- Paul Epworth
- James Ford
- Charlie Hugall
- Ben Roulston
- Isabella Summers
- Eg White
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 (Say My Name)" 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 (2011–12). The album's sound is described as baroque pop,[1] art pop,[2] indie pop,[3] neo soul,[4] power pop[5] and gothic pop.[6]
Background[edit]
NME magazine confirmed that after the release of the song "Heavy in Your Arms" for the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), 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 (2009). 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."[7] 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."[8] 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".[9] 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.[9] Pitchfork confirmed on 23 August 2011 that the album was produced solely by Epworth.[10] 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."[11]
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."[12] 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."[13] 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.[14] The liner notes of Ceremonials contain an essay by English writer Emma Forrest, dated 21 September 2011.[15]
Artwork[edit]
The cover artwork for Ceremonials was photographed by Florence and the Machine's longtime collaborator Tom Beard. In November 2019, it was announced that Beard's portrait of Welch for the album cover would be on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) of London in their New Acquisitions exhibition.[91][92][93] According to the NPG, the portrait "signalled a new, sleeker aesthetic for Welch, inspired by Art Deco and early-twentieth-century fashion illustration."[93]
Commercial performance[edit]
Ceremonials debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling approximately 38,000 copies in its first two days of release and 94,050 copies altogether in its first week.[94][95] It fell to number three the following week, selling 58,278 copies.[96] On 18 January 2013, Ceremonials was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI),[97] and by June 2015, it had sold 715,275 copies in the United Kingdom.[98]
The album also debuted at number one in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand,[99][100][101] and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in its first week of sales.[101] It was ultimately certified quadruple platinum by the ARIA in 2023, signalling sales of 280,000 equivalent units.[102] Selling 105,000 units in its opening week in the United States, Ceremonials entered the Billboard 200 at number six,[103] while debuting atop the Alternative Albums, Rock Albums and Digital Albums charts.[104][105][106] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 8 January 2015,[107] and had sold 1,002,000 copies in the US by March 2015.[108] As of May 2012, Ceremonials had sold 2 million copies worldwide.[109]
Notes