7/18/2018

Useless Magic x Florence Welch



It's a bloomin' good time to be a Florence Welch fangirl right now. In the space of a few weeks she released album four, High As Hope and the above book. When I heard about Florence's book, I swiftly emailed the lovely people at Time Out and preordered my copy that way. It arrived last Friday and was softly whispering to me beneath stacks of paper on my desk. Like some magical, Harry Potter-esque book. Or really just anything that demands to be read. 

Useless Magic, Florence's volume of poetry and lyrics is an exquisite, clothbound treasure. Inside you will find the lyrics to all the songs on Florence's albums. Side note: I've discovered now that I've been singing some of her songs incorrectly for years. My fangirl life is a lie, and vice versa. She also shares some of her poetry throughout and as she notes, the lines between poetry and song are so interconnected and deeply rooted for her at this point. I guess in many ways poetry is essentially songwriting without melody or instrumentation. Her songs really read like poetry too when they're presented like this as well. 

She also includes plenty of visual inspiration throughout; whether it be photographs she's taken herself, notes written on Chateau Marmont stationery, her favourite songs amongst other things. She notes that Walking On Broken Glass x Annie Lennox is one of her favourites. I'm listening to it as I write this actually. Whilst everything feels carefully selected this book also feels incredibly intimate and personal. We're being given an exclusive pass into the pensieve that is Florence's brilliant mind.


I really wanted to draw out reading Useless Magic for as long as possible but the truth is, it demanded to be read in rather indulgent bursts. I think I finished it over three separate sessions and will definitely be re-immersing myself in its pages many a time now. If you're a Florence Welch fangirl or boy, like exquisite words and books that are simply stunning to look at, this is for you. Useless Magic is my new kindred spirit in paper form. Get yourself a copy now and thank me later.

-Have you read Useless Magic? What did you think of it?

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