According to Welch, she said that during the year off she had "a bit of a nervous breakdown", and that time was chaotic. The break was new for her, having almost constantly been at work during the making of the band's first two albums. Overall, the recording sessions for How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful were conducted during a vulnerable period in her life, making the album her most personal work thus far.
Welch began composing the material for How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful after concluding the band's touring in support of Ceremonials in 2014. Regarding the album's themes, she said in a press statement, "I guess although I've always dealt in fantasy and metaphor when I came to writing, that meant the songs this time were dealing much more in reality. Ceremonials was so fixated on death and water, and the idea of escape or transcendence through death, but the new album became about trying to learn how to live, and how to love in the world rather than trying to escape from it. Which is frightening because I'm not hiding behind anything but it felt like something I had to do." Welch also told Lowe that Dravs was instrumental in exploring her lyrical versatility, as he forbade her to write any more songs about water, a main theme in her past compositions. Still, she managed to write "Ship to Wreck", a song which she jokingly commented was "not too explicit" in comparison to her past works.
Talking about the promotion, it began with a set called "The Odyssey," starting on 12 February 2015, the band released a series of Vincent Haycock-directed music videos for several songs from the album, with each video acting as a chapter in a story titled The Odyssey. The complete 47-minute short film premiered via the band's website on 25 April 2016, consisting of all previously released videos, as well as new connecting scenes and a new final chapter, set to "Third Eye". Haycock explained that The Odyssey follows "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."
- Chapter 1: "What Kind of Man"
- Chapter 2: "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" (connecting scene different to teaser video)
- Chapter 3: "St. Jude"
- Chapter 4: "Ship to Wreck"
- Chapter 5: "Queen of Peace"
- Chapter 6: "Long & Lost"
- Chapter 7: "Mother" (connecting scene)
- Chapter 8: "Delilah"
- Chapter 9: "Third Eye"
- Credits: "Various Storms & Saints"
The lead single "What Kind Of Man" peaked at No. 37 in the UK and No. 88 in the USA, "Ship To Wreck" the best track for me, peaked at No. 27 in the UK, then "Queen Of Peace" and "Delilah". There were other songs such as "St. Jude" which was considered to be a continuation of the video for "What Kind of Man", it was also directed by Haycock and choreographed by Heffington and sees Florence Welch "traveling through their version of the Divine Comedy."
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