Florence And The Machine Return With 'What The Water Gave Me'

Florence Welch gives fans first taste of what they can expect on her new disc, due in November.
By James Montgomery

Florence Welch
Photo: Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage

Florence and the Machine conquered audiences on both sides of the Atlantic with their dynamic, dramatic debut, 2009's Lungs. Ever since, fans have been clamoring for the follow-up. Now, it's finally on the horizon.

On Tuesday (August 23), Florence Welch announced on her official site that her sophomore album would hit stores on November 7 in the U.K., and according to her rep, it'll be out sometime the same month here in the U.S. She also gave us all a sneak peek of what we can expect on the disc with a soaring, chiming, epically massive new track called "What the Water Gave Me," which is imbued with a gospel choir and Welch's epic pipes, and seems destined to rule the festival circuit for the foreseeable future.

The still-untitled album is produced by Paul Epworth and was recorded at London's iconic Abbey Road studios. Welch had been premiering a handful of tracks from the record during live shows — the standout "Strangeness and Charm" will reportedly also make the cut — and earlier this summer, before her performance at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee, she sat down with MTV News to discuss the process behind making the new album, calling it a more cohesive effort than her debut.

"I wrote so much of my first album at different times and places — some songs when I was 18, some when I was 21 — so there are so many pieces and styles on it," she said. "And that's one of the things I love about it, but for my new record, I wanted to do things differently. It's why I worked with one producer in one studio. I want to tie all those things together ... in one piece, if possible."

Welch also said that the album draws inspiration from ethereal sources too, including one song on the album she wrote after a ghostly visitation.

"There's a song on it that's inspired by a visit [from] my dead grandmother — like, I had a really, really vivid dream about her and, um, she was giving me advice in this dream," she said. "And it was really emotional, and I woke up crying. And there's one song that's inspired by that experience."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669520/florence-and-the-machine-what-the-water-gave-me.jhtml