Song to Blurb…
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[6.57]
Iain Mew: Florence has finally done what I’ve been hoping for and used an arrangement with a bit more restraint. In fact, it’s more different than just that, twinkling like The Coral. She hasn’t exactly scaled her writing accordingly, but that’s fine. Contrast helps a big chorus, after all, and the space allows the details to stick out in interesting ways. My favourite is when she turns her sharks back to childhood chair islands and not being allowed to touch the floor, a mixture of undercutting and shoring up the fears.
[7]
Alfred Soto: At first it’s too on-the-nose, its guitar hook strummed with the confidence of musicians who’ve created an earworm, but when Florence climbs the scales after a minute of undersinging for the sake of nailing “wreck,” it’s a thrill. The rest of How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful doesn’t sound like “Ship to Wreck,” a pity, but then it wouldn’t sound like a superior Ocean Rain.
[7]
Scott Mildenhall: When she says ship, she means time machine, right? Because this is simultaneously turn-of-the-millennium local radio fare to sit proudly alongside Lene Marlin and — one of the greatest songs of all time — Tin Tin Out’s version of “Here’s Where The Story Ends”, and the Radio 2-targeted work Florence will release in 25 years time, similar in many ways to Chrissie Hynde’s “You Or No One”. No ship could be wrecked through such safe travel.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: The first F+TM single I’ve liked, largely I suspect because it’s so propulsive. My biggest problem with Florence and her merry band of men has always been their languor; that’s not a problem here. “Ship to Wreck” has the energy and lyrical nature of Lone Justice at their best (though without the country/roots influences). It keeps pushing from start to finish.
[7]
Will Adams: As an album-opener, “Ship to Wreck” gets the added bonus of galloping right out of the gate. There’s something distinctly Californian about this, perhaps the Chris Isaak-ian jangle or the repeat-as-need chorus; I wouldn’t mind cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway to this.
[7]
Brad Shoup: Above the propulsion, the grouchiness — there’s no self-examination here. The images are being flung into her partner’s face like possessions, one at a time, each one tossed a little harder. The track’s hardscrabbling and trebly — think of an A+ Decemberists effort — someone’s got to go now.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: You know, I never expected when she first came out that Florence Welch would descend into writing so-so Ryan Adams style songs, but life can surprise you sometimes.
[4]