CD of The Week

The title of Florence + The Machine's newest album, their first in nearly four years, is a bit of a misnomer. While very blue in subject matter and often quite beautiful, it doesn't sound as big as one might expect given her track record. Where 2011's Ceremonials pushed Flossy Welch's original template to titanic proportions, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful dials it down in both sonics and sentiment. More earthly narratives of regret and repentance are spun with sparer, more spacious arrangements from a band that sounds more interested in chemistry than crescendo.

The proceedings lack the immediacy of past Machine output, but the highlights still rank among Welch's best. Opener "Ship to Wreck" startles initially with its jangly Smiths guitars before you notice how well it suits the song's apologetic tone, not to mention Welch's ever reliable powerhouse vocals. Elsewhere, horn arrangements from Goldfrapp's Will Gregory lend a graceful majesty to the understated, largely acoustic title track, and "Delilah" mesmerizes with its monolithic Motown. Unfortunately, the latter's positioning on the tracklist has a muffling effect on the album's softer, subtler second half. The gorgeous, grinding gossamer of "Long & Lost" and uplifting, Annie Lennox-worthy wash of "Whoa-ohs" in "Third Eye" can't quite compete afterwards. A pity since they'd promptly perk up ears on a shuffle removed from the rest of the record.

It will be interesting to see how long How Bigendures after release, and even more interesting to discover how its songs translate live against anthemic ancestors like "Raise It Up" and "Spectrum." In the meantime, there is plenty of beauty to be found in the latest model of Florence's Machine for those with enough patience, even if the lack of bombast may leave other longtime fans with the blues.