#department of hurricanes and haunted lace

[gdzie-rosna-poziomki]

Taylor Swift (ft. Florence + The Machine) - Florida!!!

[whatisflorencewearing]

August 20, 2024 - Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, London N8

Florence from the Department of Hurricanes and Haunted Lace made a surprise appearance at the TTPD section of the final (European) Eras Tour show in a sold out @wembleystadium.

She's wearing a custom @delcoreofficial creation. The white hand-pleated silk chiffon gown features contrasting black lace trims and inserts, a square neckline, cape-effect sleeves, a black velvet waist tie, peplum and a full-length skirt. Also in true Florence fashion: barefeet.

Photography: @gettyimages Styling: @aldenejohnson MUA: @sarahreygate Hair: @ryanrichman

[frank-zhang-praetor]

You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too

They said I was a cheat, I guess it must be true

And my friends all smell like weed or little babies

And this city reeks of driving myself crazy

Little did you know

Your home's really only a town you're just a guest in

So you work your life away

Just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin

Florida is one hell of a drug

Florida, can I use you up?

The hurricane with my name when it came

I got drunk and I dared it to wash me away

Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine

Well, me and my ghosts, we had a hell of a time

Yes, I'm haunted but I'm feeling just fine

All my girls got their lace and their crimes

And your cheating husband disappeared

Well, no one asks any questions here

So I did my best to lay to rest

All of the bodies that have ever been on my body

And in my mind, they sink into the swamp

Is that a bad thing to say in a song?

Little did you know

Your home's really only the town you'll get arrested

So you pack your life away

Just to wait out the shitstorm back in Texas

Florida is one hell of a drug

Florida, can I use you up?

I need to forget, so take me to Florida

I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida

Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable

At least the dolls are beautiful, fuck me up, Florida

I need to forget, so take me to Florida

I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida

Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable

What a crash, what a rush, fuck me up, Florida

It's one hell of a drug

It's one hell of a drug

Love left me like this and I don't want to exist

So take me to Florida

Little did you know

Your home's really only a town you're just a guest in (take me to Florida)

So you work your life away

Just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin (take me to Florida)

Little did you know

Your home's really only the town you'll get arrested (take me to Florida)

So you pack your life away

Just to wait out the shitstorm back in Texas (take me to)

Florida is one hell of a drug (take me to)

Florida, can I use you up?

Florida is one hell of a drug

Florida, go on, fuck me up

I was told by @p1per-mclean that this is Florida by Taylor Swift. We both then had a argument about whether The Tortured Poets Department is the best album. I say it isn't. She did not agree ofcourse. This is the only thing @hazel-the-jewel and I don't agree on.

Ooc - all these events actually happened in our server. Piper and I actually had an argument which ended amicably.

[athenasparrow]

How does it just keep getting better with each listen?

I love that each time she breaks records and finds something that works for her, she pushes herself to change again. The way she reinvents herself and her music is so beautiful and this album is so raw I cannot 😭

My favourites so far:

So Long, London

Devastation 😭

Florida!!!

Florence and Taylor together: pure magic ✨I am SO excited for the music video coming!! The Department of Hurricanes and Haunted Lace? Ummm yes please; I definitely want to go in that door 😍

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

When it goes high?!!! OH. MY. GOD. This is #1 for me right now. I can't WAIT to see that live. I can imagine some sort of wild and unhinged choreography like when she gets silly during anti-hero.

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

THE CHORUS!! What a bop! I think it's genius to put such a bop over heartbreaking lyrics. It's so catchy, I've been humming it all morning. This is the first chorus I have memorised. I think this is going to end up on t-shirts and meme's lol.

The Albatross

It's haunting. I fucking love it. The lyrics, the sound. It's just 🤌🏼

Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

No idea who they are, but they make a fucking great song 💪🏼

[nathanorenstein-blog]

Death Cab for Cutie - Thank You for Today Review

Death Cab for Cutie - Thank You for Today

Release Date - August 17, 2018

Genres - Alternative Rock, Indie Pop

After about 15 years of sitting comfortably among the greats atop the indie rock/adult alternative music scene, Death Cab for Cutie has faced their first lineup change since their seminal album Transatlanticism. Gone is long time guitarist and producer Chris Walla, and in his place comes former touring members Dave Depper and Zac Rae. With Rae replacing Walla on lead guitar, and Depper becoming the band’s first official keyboardist, Death Cab for Cutie is now a five piece act, with a new producer to boot. Well, he isn’t completely new. Rich Costley also produced the 2015 album Kintsugi, while Walla stuck around only to handle guitar work before finally leaving. With these massive changes to the band, it’s fair to expect a large change in sound from Ben Gibbard and the gang. And while Thank You for Today definitely does sound different than the rest of the band’s discography, Gibbard’s waning songwriting abilities continue to drag Death Cab’s music quality down.

The most drastic change that came with Thank You for Today has to be the production from Rich Costley. The soundscape is far more “spacey” than before, and sounds seem to echo into the darkness. This was a noticeable change on Kintsugi as well, but it seems to be more prevalent here on Thank You for Today. Album opener “I Dreamt We Spoke Again” has an almost mystical sound to it. The echo of the instrumentation is purely haunting, and Gibbard’s layered vocals in the chorus reverberate into the stark nothingness that comprises the soundscape. The final track on the album, “60 & Punk”, contains nothing but a distant piano for about 45 seconds, and this introduction to the depressing closer gives me goosebumps every time. However, Death Cab for Cutie’s original sound is very much present throughout the album. “Autumn Love” is probably the most “typical” Death Cab song here, in terms of instrumentation. It’s an upbeat anthem carried along by a summery acoustic guitar and an electric guitar that has a soaring riff that repeats throughout the song. “Your Hurricane” sounds like it would fit perfectly on the depression-laced indie gem that is Death Cab’s 2005 album Plans, as Gibbard sings about failed love over a very somber instrumental. Overall, Thank You for Today’s greatest strength is its ability to sound refreshing and new for such an old band, while still sticking with its roots.

As mentioned before, the biggest problem that’s continued to plague Death Cab for Cutie for a few albums now is the declining quality in Ben Gibbard’s lyricism. The horribly sad storytelling that made Transatlanticism a true indie masterpiece is gone, and any semblance of metaphor or even simile is lost too. The exception to this rule would be on the aforementioned “60 & Punk” which tells a dark and gritty story of a washed up star, whose problems with alcohol and his inability to grow up has destroyed his life. As with the best of Death Cab’s tracks, it’s truly depressing, but also strangely beautiful at the same time. Sadly, the same can’t be said for many of the other tracks. Lead single “Gold Rush” is about the changing landscape of Gibbard’s hometown of Seattle, and the imagery he employs is incredibly boring and its straightforward to a fault. Luckily, it’s catchy enough to save it from being a complete dud, but it comes pretty close. “You Moved Away” isn’t as lucky, unfortunately. It’s an ode to Seattle eccentric Derek Erdman, who recently moved back to his hometown of Chicago. Nothing about the song works, from the down right stupid lyrics, to Gibbard’s inability to keep any semblance of rhythm in his singing, and it’s a shame that it was written with a beloved member of Seattle’s culture in mind. There is one song on this album that truly stands above every other track though, and that would be “Summer Years”. In typical Death Cab for Cutie fashion, Gibbard sings about lost love, and his continued longing for this individual. His vocals are mellow throughout the song, and it perfectly adds to the desperation in his lyrics. The percussion is quick, varied, and creates a great backbone for the entire song. The electric guitar riff pairs with the percussion well, and the song even features a dark and gritty solo. The production is spacey once again and it rounds out what I would consider near flawless instrumentation. Sadly, the rest of the album doesn’t stack up at all, especially in the songwriting department.

Overall, Thank You for Today is about as average as an album gets. I failed to mention a few of the tracks, and that’s purely because they’re mostly forgettable. They aren’t bad, just average, and they really aren’t worth talking about. For the most part, the other songs don’t move too far out of this average range, in one direction or the other. The change in instrumentation and production is certainly welcome, but Gibbard’s lyricism is too cheesy and underwhelming to be ignored. As a huge fan of Death Cab for Cutie, I can’t say I’m disappointed by this album. It just feels like a fairly inconsequential addition to their now nine album discography.

My Final Score: 6/10

Favorite Songs: “I Dreamt We Spoke Again”, “Summer Years”, “60 & Punk”

Least Favorite Songs: “Gold Rush”, “You Moved Away”

[milfmaddiebuckley]

Eight - that's how many days had passed since Maddie had been taken. With every second that passes, hour that crawls by and day that tortures him with the sense of powerlessness and weakness, he is starting to give up on her. It's something he never thought he would have said in his whole life and he hates himself for it, but he can tell by the looks of dread and sympathy in his friends' and family's eyes that they have started to lose hope too. Maddie was a fighter, they all knew that much, but perhaps she hadn't been able to push through this one, perhaps this was a battle she wasn't meant to win. Athena had spent every waking minute doing everything in her power to bring Maddie home to them, no stone had been left unturned and any little thing that was found had gone through numerous deeper sweeps and searches, yet absolutely nothing had come up. All that they knew was less than a week after Tara had died, Vincent had sold their house, emptied all of his bank accounts and had just...dropped off the grid.

Maddie could very well be dead right now and he feels like a monster for even saying this, but perhaps a part of him wishes that it was true. He loves her, he loves her more than he ever thought it was possible to love anyone else, and perhaps it's that love for her that makes a part of him feel this way because if she isn't alive, then that means she isn't being hurt and tortured at the hands of a man who they had no idea what he was capable of. In between the few domestic reports from Tara and Vincent's old house and the larger amount of hospital and medical records they had managed to sapina as a result of Tara's death, they knew it was bad and if Vincent had nobody else to let that rage out on, if he had no other outlet and he had let it build up and build up - well, he can't imagine what that means for the woman he loves. Maddie had already been through so much in her life, they both had, but her especially. Right from the young age that her older brother had been diagnosed with an illness that had stolen him from their family, up until she was nine years old and forced to take on a burden that was too heavy for anybody to shoulder, yet alone a nine year old girl that had to raise her other brother practically on her own whilst not being able to grieve for the other. The burden of the Buckley family secret had weighed her down for twenty-nine years until just over a year ago, just over a year ago when it had all come crashing down and the truth had been forced to resurface as a result of a baby box and one of the few remaining photos of the older brother she once had. And after the loss of Daniel came the hurricane which they called Doug, the man she had spent sixteen years of her life with - eleven of which through marriage. He didn't know much about all that had happened during that time and he knows that the only people that would ever know the true extent of things that happened in the relationship would be Maddie and the not so dearly departed, but he knows it was bad. Though the Doug chapter of her life was physically over, he too has experienced his fair share of trauma, and something like that doesn't just go away. It will stick with her for the rest of her life and he knows that if she is still out there, if she is fighting to come home, it will never stop haunting her.

His stomach churns as he even thinks of what she might be going through right now.

Now, it had been over three years since all that had happened with Doug and though he knows that they both got 'lucky' then, he doubts that they will be quite as fortunate this time. It sickens him to even remember the day she had been wheeled into his hospital room, her face bruised and body tormented, a haunted look in her teary eyes as she kissed him, one of the best kisses he had ever received. He doesn't want to remember her that way, he doesn't want to be called into a morgue to identify her lifeless body and he knows that closure should be important if she is dead, but he can't decide whether it would be better to live his life never knowing or if closure would truly make it better.

And then there was Jee. Their sweet baby girl who had taught him unconditional love and adoration, and had shown it to him in return. The almost one year old that was far too young to even remember life with Maddie, too young to even remember the amazing woman that her mother happened to be. He'd tell her tales, of course he was, but he knows that fond memories laced with sadness and grief are incomparable to the real thing and he just wishes that they will all get to experience that. Maybe he is just getting ahead of himself, maybe he's trying to imagine the worst possible scenarios in his mind so that he is prepared for whatever the final outcome just so happens to be, but there's a feeling deep within him telling him that he will never truly be prepared for when he finds out. If he finds out.

He also knows that there is a possibility that whatever happens to the woman he loves, he will never find out. He knows just how easy it could be for Maddie to be in any condition right now, she could be absolutely anywhere and in no end of pain, but he would be unsuspecting and unknowing. Vincent was smart - he had to give the other man that - but it's almost as if he can't breathe without Maddie next to him, let alone function. And he hates himself for it, he hates her right now because she had made him promise so much, she had made him promise to look after himself and their sweet baby girl and at the time it had been the easiest promise in the world to make, but now, not so much. He may be a good father, but he isn't the best possible father he can be without her around and he knows that it's inherently selfish of him to even be thinking like this because he is the one that's safe at home and out of harm's way, but the pain he is feeling is unlike anything he has ever felt before. It's a mix of numbness and shock and grief all rolled up into one, a wave of emotions that are too much to handle all at once and he can't be more grateful for his friends and family for trying to support him and reassure him in this time, but he just wants some space. It's as if his body has yet to catch up with his mind and even when he goes to bed at night, though that seems to be the only place he is nowadays, he half expects the duvet to be pulled from his side, he turns over expecting to see her under a bundle of blankets, yet all he is met by is emptiness. It hurts, it all hurts so much and he wants her next to him, he needs her to be by his side and for it to be real, but it isn't.

"Mama?"

The sound of his baby girl asking for the one person they both wanted and needed the most breaks his heart even more than he ever thought possible, despite managing to pull him from the darkest depths of his mind. Mama had been Jee-Yun's first word, a victory which Maddie had been so delighted to take and he wasn't even mad when he saw the look of pure elation on her face. It had been on one of her bad days, one of the days she had been struggling and he had tried to do everything he could to make it better, but it turned out that there was only one person capable of that. The little girl that was further proof of their undying love for the other, the little girl who they had promised to do everything possible to give the best upbringing after they had both experienced not so good ones. And so far, they had been doing the best they could, they had been managing and sure, they made mistakes on the way but it was all worth it. Wasn't it?

Read more on AO3

[plungermusic]

Murry acquaints Plunger with strange bedfellows …

Normally Plunger and the Grauniad are diametrically opposed on matters musical, the latter obsessed with edgy, dahn-weev-da-keedz novelty acts with more attitude than ability, more artfulness than artistry. So it’s a rarer-than-hen’s-dentures event for us to agree on anything, and what we do agree on is John Murry, here at the Lexington in full-band incarnation on the last night of a short UK tour.

Suspicious of anything The Guardian like, Plunger were actually here to see another cracking set from Ben Folke Thomas, including newer numbers like his wry dig at the hunger for success in One Day, the even wryer assault on wounded male pride Martyr’s Cross and the ultra-pessimistic imagining of his soon-to-be wife’s abandoning him One More Chance as well as old favourites like the heartfelt music box simplicity of Copenhagen, the lilting finger picked Blues For You… and the triumphant return of the penguin joke.

Bathed in the red lights, dressed in black and looking like the Mephistophelean love child of the two Nicks (Cave and Cage) it’s easy to see what might attract the Guardianistas to John Murry, and there were dog-whistle elements to many of the night’s songs too. One Day (You’ll Die) opened with a raw, slow country take on Tracks Of My Tears, John’s laconic drawl somewhere between Lou Reed and late-Bowie accompanied only by his own louche twangsome guitar, before gathering speed with the entry of the band for a shambling country rocker (with a punky roughening round the edges) and a further touch of pastiche in the Sleepwalk melody cleverly worked in by Stephen Barlow’s pedal steel.

Guardian-friendly edginess came in the Talking Heads-meets-New Orderish Defacing Sunday Bulletins, with its unsettling off-kilter chordal riff and driving drum-and-bass pulse; the Ramonesy garage rock of Under A Darker Moon; and in the meandering near-Sabbath heavy guitar-and-bass riff-led stoner prom last dance of When God Walks In, topped with Velvet-y “do-doo-doo”s and a halting, piercing solo à la Neil Young.

The Youngian vibe continued in the grungy California, punchier than the album version with supertight drums from Dave Hart; in John’s stinging solo on a majestic The Ballad Of The Pajama Kid, slow and full of haunting pedal steel accents, (with more than a passing resemblance to Knocking On Heaven’s Door as acknowledged by John’s closing “Mama take this badge off of me…”) and in Southern Sky, a chugging Like A Hurricane-covered-by-the-Marshall Tucker Band rocker, its ballsy three-part vocal chorus and spine-tingling pedal steel culminating in John’s fiery fuzz-and-whammy-bar outing. Stephen’s sweeping pedal steel came into its own on the dark ketamine-laced country of Silver And Lead, and the expansive Springsteen reverie of Wrong Man.

Departing the stage after an hour, John answered the calls for more, returning (with bassist Tali Trow on piano) for Oscar Wilde, a stirring ballad that could have come straight from Carole King but telling of violence, homegrown terrorism and alienation. They were then joined by Stephen, Dave and Ben Folke Thomas, for a cover of the Afghan Whigs’ savage stop/start What Jail Is Like, with Stephen’s eerie steel accents and John’s violent howling assault on his guitar. The cinematic Little Colored Balloons opened as a wistful country ballad, John’s breaking emotional delivery backed by Tali again on piano, augmented with pedal steel highlights: with Ben and Dave joining in it built slowly to a fabulous stadium close, the wordless “oo-oo-ooo” chorus taken up by the pedal steel (and the crowd) beneath John’s increasingly impassioned vocal.

A final encore of Townes van Zandt’s Waiting Around To Die led by John’s taut rasp, and contrasting fluid pedal steel and jagged Strat fury, closed out an hour and a half of unexpected (for Plunger) excellence. Maybe the law of big numbers dictates that Plunger and The Guardian had to agree at some point: even if perhaps we don’t rate him for the same reasons, John Murry is really rather good.

[gdzie-rosna-poziomki]

Taylor Swift (ft. Florence + The Machine) - Florida!!!

via Florence instagram