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FLORENCE WELCH AND VINCENT HAYCOCK’S SHORT FILM: THE ODYSSEY

By Aaron Tyler on May 14, 2016

“This is the finale of a very personal project that came from a conversation me and Vince had in the Chateau Marmont about a year and a half ago while I was writing How Big How Blue How Beautiful,”says Florence Welch. “I was talking to him about the record and the car crash of a relationship break up I was going through. The highs and the lows of love and performance, how out of control I felt, the purgatory of heartbreak, and how I was trying to change and trying to be free. And we decided we would re-tell this story in full.

We would re-claim this experience, re-imagine it and in some way perhaps I would come to understand it, to exorcise it. And so the Big Blue Odyssey began…”

Following its debut with screenings in New York and London, Florence Welch and director Vincent Haycock premiere their short film The Odyssey in full today on YouTube and Vevo. Watch it here.

The Odyssey, created for Florence + the Machine’s new album How Big How Blue How Beautifuland starring Florence, unites each of the visual film segments created for How Big How Blue How Beautiful—“What Kind Of Man,” “How Big How Blue How Beautiful,” “St. Jude,” “Ship To Wreck,” “Queen Of Peace” and “Delilah,” as well as the final installment for “Third Eye”—into a 40-minute, cohesive short film complete with new, connecting scenes.

Watch Florence and Vincent discuss the film in a Facebook Q&A, hosted by celebrated music director A.G. Rojas, Haycock’s partner in art collective MAINLINE, here.

“The Odyssey, like the epic poem by Homer, is a journey,” says Haycock. “It’s Florence’s personal journey to find herself again after the emotional storm of a heartbreak. Like the layers of Dante’s purgatory, each song or chapter represents a battle that Florence traversed and physical landscape that embodied each song or story. Its a metaphorical journey about escaping your demons, confronting yourself and returning to the original Florence, the dancer, the performer, the lover.”

Following a gigantic 2015, which saw the release of How Big How Blue How Beautiful, her first U.S. #1 album, Florence is on tour now with support from Anderson. Paak, Grimes and Of Monsters And Men. Dates include Brooklyn’s Barclays Center June 14 and 15, Chicago’s Hollywood Casino Amphitheater June 12, Boston’s Xfinity Center June 7 and many more.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE LIVE

May 14                                                        Orlando, FL                                           Amway Center*
May 17                                                        Houston, TX              Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion†
May 18                                                         Dallas, TX                             American Airlines Center†
May 19                                                         Austin, TX                              Austin360 Amphitheater†
May 24                                                    Kansas City, KS                         KRBZ Cricket Wireless†
May 26                                                        Denver, CO                                            Pepsi Center†
June 2                                                       Saint Paul, MN                                 Xcel Energy Center†
June 4                                                       Cleveland, OH Blossom Music Center‡
June 7                                                          Boston, MA                                            Xfinity Center‡
June 8                                                        Montreal, QC                                               Bell Centre‡
June 10                                                      Toronto, ON          Molson Canadian Amphitheatre‡
June 11                                                       Detroit, MI                    DTE Energy Music Theatre‡
June 12                                                        Chicago, IL               Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre‡
June 14                                                     New York, NY                                   Barclays Center†
June 15                                                      New York, NY                                       Barclays Center†