Florence & The Machine 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)'

• 3rd Jun 2009

After winning the Critic’s Choice BRIT Award and then stealing the show with her Glasvegas duet at the NME Awards show Florence & The Machine is now much more than a name to watch, she’s a force of nature you can’t avoid.

The bewitchingly beautiful new single throws us into the dark, mysterious world of the enigmatic Florence & The Machine. Like the demos we first fell in love (Girl With One Eye and My Boy Builds Coffins) new single ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’ sees Florence twist and craft metaphorical couplets and mythical tales, turning them into something wonderfully intriguing and utterly, distinctively her.

The video, directed by Tom & Tabitha, sees Florence whisked away to a seemingly tranquil scene before things take a sinister turn… Tabitha sets the scene: “The story is set in an idyllic village populated by youthful innocents who have come to revere Florence. However a certain lawlessness has broken out under the leadership of their corrupt elder (performance artist Jonny Woo.) For his own amusement he has convinced the villagers that to maintain their carefree lifestyle they must sacrifice their most treasured thing – Florence. Convinced of this herself, she arrives at a celebratory banquet and surrenders herself upon a grand table. This is transformed into a casket to be carried to the water. There she is left to a watery grave .”

Produced by Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Jack Penate, Maximo Park) the single is full of twinkling harp cascades, muted drums rolls and those hauntingly stunning vocals only Florence can produce. ‘Raise It Up’ is the first offering from Florence on her new label home Island Records. Epworth shares production duties with James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, The Klaxons, Last Shadow Puppets) and Steve Mackay (Pulp, M.I.A) on Florence’s forthcoming album ‘Lungs’. The highly anticipated long player will be out July 6th and promises to be a spectacular insight into the world of the insanely captivating Florence Welch.

Amassing praise all round for her energetic live set on the NME Awards Tour earlier this year, Florence & The Machine was asked to support Blur later this year as part of their comeback national tour. Catch her before that on her own headline sold tour following venues:

UK LIVE DATES

May:

22nd – 02 Academy, Birmingham


27th – Bloomsbury Ballroom, London

28th – Bloomsbury Ballroom, London


31st – Oran Mor, Glasgow

June:


1st – St Phillips Church, Manchester


2nd – Concorde 2, Brighton


26th – Blur support at Manchester M.E.N Arena

27th – Glastonbury – John Peel tent

July:

3rd – Blur support at Hyde Park

4th – Hop Garden

11th – T in the Park

12th – Oxygen

18th – Lovebox

August:

28th – Reading – Radio 1 tent

30th – Leeds – Radio 1 tent

September:

12th – Bestival – Main Stage

13th – Bestival – Big Top