videoFlorence + The Machine 'Delilah' by Vincent HaycockFlorence Welch faces her final demons - as well as an actual demon - in this intense video for Delilah, chapter six of the How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful odyssey by Vincent Haycock. It follows What Kind Of Man, St. Jude, Ship To Wreck, Queen of Peace and Long & Lost, and sees a Florence at the epicentre of spiritual chaos, playing out with expected dramatic furor in a filmically drab motel.The video starts out with a scene in the motel's reception as Florence listens to a preacher's counsel concerning her loss of faith. Soon after, she enters a vortex of religious symbolism, characterised by painterly compositions reminiscent of baroque paintings alongside sequences of what appear to be cult members in writhing prayer.The video mirrors elements we've seen previously, such as the confrontational mob, the frenzied dance sequences and doubled Florences. However, Delilah is also full of thrilling and unexpected imagery such as a nightmarish vision of a demon looming over her sleep - inspired by gothic masterpiece The Nightmare – and the unveiling of Florence's double as someone else, someone who is not really her.
Cat Velez - 26th Oct 2015