Florence And The Machine - Breath of Life

Florence returns with her second film soundtrack song, this time for Snow White and the Huntsman, directed by new director Rupert Sanders. Judging from the trailers, the blend of medieval drums, soaring classical strings and choir-boosted, operatic vocals seems very fitting to such a dramatic retelling of the classic fairy tale. Truth be told, the film looks slick, expensive, and maybe quite dark, but it doesn’t really appeal. (Mainly because the rather wooden Kristen Stewart is in it but that’s beside the point, and I’m willing to have my mind changed on that, anyway.) Ever since news broke of the song about two months ago, and a snippet of it was released, it became almost fabled in its mystery for hard-core FATM fans. (The other ‘Holy Grail’ being ‘Paper Massacre’, a half-finished song heard on one of the ‘in the studio’ videos from the ‘Lungs’ album.)

‘Breath of Life’ is no change from Flo’s recent epic pop, and for those who aren’t into the heightened emotion and imagery in her music, this won’t make any new fans. This song is huge in its scope. The true meaning of an ‘epic’. But there is no doubting that her voice works well with the huge choir, trumpets and fraught strings. There’s also no doubting that the song sounds like a film score, especially with that choir, the soundtrack to a huge battle scene, with vocal resemblance to ‘Heavy In Your Arms’- her other soundtrack offering.

Fit for purpose then, and in fitting with the darker elements of ‘Ceremonials’, but here’s hoping that this doesn’t define Florence And The Machine’s future direction too much as the quieter, less layered moments on ‘Ceremonials’ are what make such tension and emotion bearable for a whole album. Still, a huge and musically accomplished piece, and for the fans, one of the ‘Holy Grail’s reached.

Listen to the track here via FATM Army. 

Holly Read-Challen