{"id":481566,"date":"2019-01-30T11:41:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T18:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=785661"},"modified":"2019-01-30T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T18:41:15","slug":"song-you-need-to-know-florence-and-the-machine-haunted-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/song-you-need-to-know-florence-and-the-machine-haunted-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Song You Need to Know: Florence and the Machine, \u2018Haunted House\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florence and the Machine<\/a> are still touring in support of last year\u2019s excellent High As Hope<\/em>, but if that\u2019s not enough, they\u2019ve just blessed fans with a pair of new tracks. \u201cHaunted House\u201d is the more demure of the two, a stirring example of singer Florence Welch\u2019s particularly powerful approach to vulnerability.<\/p>\n

On \u201cHaunted House,\u201d which is less than two minutes long and significantly less spooky than the title indicates, Welch laments that her \u201cheart is like a haunted house.\u201d Her fears and insecurities whisper to her in the night, leaving effects even after she wakes. The song starts simply, her voice in its chilling upper register above a slowly played piano accompaniment. As she begins recalling the memories that haunt her, the harmonies pick up. She recites \u201cI\u2019m not free at all\u201d like an incantation as those harmonies and layers of her own voice swallow her whole before returning to the lonely arrangement of just her lead vocal and the piano.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaunted House\u201d is reminiscent of other underrated moments in Florence and the Machine\u2019s discography, all of which are understandably overshadowed by the arena-filling, baroque anthems that have become the band\u2019s signature songs. It hints at \u201cSt. Jude,\u201d the cool and reflective ode to the \u201cpatron saint of the lost causes,\u201d or the pop-leaning \u201cI\u2019m Not Calling You Liar.\u201d All are pleasant reminders of one of rock and pop\u2019s most adaptable voices.<\/p>\n