No Light, No Light
Encyclopedia
"No Light, No Light" is a song by English indie rock
band Florence and the Machine
from their second studio album Ceremonials
(2011). The song was written by Florence Welch
and Isabella Summers
while the production was handled by Paul Epworth
. Island Records
will release the song as the second single from the album. An accompanying music video
premiered on 18 November 2011 and it was well-received by music critics.
and Isabella Summers
while the production was handled by Paul Epworth
. The song was recorded in 2011 at the Abbey Road Studios
. According to Welch, "No Light, No Light" was the first song written for the album. During an interview with MTV News
she confirmed the release of the song. Welch further revealed that the intro of the song was written during the tour in Amsterdam, "We had gone out for Rob [Ackroyd]'s birthday to an all-night restaurant in Brussels called Midnights. We went to this funny restaurant and then got on the tour bus and everyone was a bit drunk and it was like, 'Yeah, let's write a song.'" Welch also said that "No Light, No Light" was also recorded in Amsterdam, "And we recorded the sound of the bus moving, a real drone-y bass sound, and that's the intro, and then the tour bus arrived in Amsterdam [and we were saying], 'Let's go toast this song! We will find a bar that will serve us drinks at 7 in the morning! Come!'.[...] So we trotted off into Amsterdam and managed to find a sports bar that would only serve us Midori. It was bright-green drinks and me and Isa [Summers] kind of looking like crazy old ladies." During an interview with Los Angeles Times
, Welch further described the song as "one of the biggest tracks on the album."
s as stated by Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly
. Ryan Dombal of the website Pitchfork Media
commented that "No Light, No Light" was one of the songs where Welch "sets aside her usual flighty, dreamy, goth-y lyrical go-to's-- ghosts, graveyards, devils, angels, myths, drowning-- for something a bit more personal." During the musical bridge
of the song Welch sings the lines "Would you leave me, if I told you what I'd become. 'Cause it's so easy to sing it to a crowd/ But it's so hard, my love/ To say it to you out loud." Alix Buscovic of BBC Online compared the song with Florence and the Machine's earlier song "Cosmic Love
".
." Spins Rob Harvilla commented that "No Light, No Light" was "a desperate lovers' quarrel, all agitated strings and galloping drums (no broken jaws or burning beds this time, alas)." Clash
magazine's Laura Foster called the song "uplifting" and "typically Florence-sounding" further putting it in her list of "six massive anthems" on Ceremonials. Alex Buscovic of the website BBC Online called "No Light, No Light" a "drum-chased, harp-gilded and hook-jawed" song. However, Buscovic commented that its "epic proportions are too much." Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times called the song an anthem, which according to him, was "as overpowering as 'Dog Days Are Over
.'" In his review of Ceremonials, Jillian Mapes of Billboard wrote "'I'd do anything to make you stay / Tell me what you want me to say,' she pleads atop the album's most pulsating tribal drumbeat. Musically, the song exudes utter strength; lyrically, Welch is on her knees."
account on 18 November 2011. It was directed by Icelandic duo Arni & Kinski. A teaser was also uploaded on their Vevo account on 15 November 2011. The video begins with Welch lying next to a human skull. Several scenes showing a masked and shirtless contortionist
sitting on a chair follow and soon after he starts to dance and takes his mask off. The video then moves into a church where a choir consisting of kids starts singing the song. Welch is then seen atop of a building as the contortionist takes a voodoo doll in his hands. He puts a needle in the doll and Welch falls from the building. She later falls in the church where she's being caught and held by the choir. Shots of Welch being chased by the contortionist in a town are interspersed amongst the other elements of the video.
concluded that the video, "touches on the fine line between spiritual ecstasy and reckless abandon." Jillian Mapes of Billboard
commented that the video is exploring a "territory between Christianity and voodoo spirituality." Mapes further praised the video for being dramatic, but he wrote that "more than that, it's completely absurd." A writer of Rolling Stone
concluded: "[the video] does not shy away from matching the music's melodramatic intensity. In addition to contrasting overtly Christian iconography with images of some kind of voodoo priest, the harrowing climax is paired with footage of Florence Welch falling from the top of a skyscraper." Writing for Dose
, Leah Collins found "seriously life-threatening juju going on in No Light, No Light [video]" Nick Neyland of Prefix Magazine wrote: "That song ["No Light. No Light"] just got a suitably opulent video, which is full or religious imagery, Florence perched atop a building in Manhattan, and a strange masked figure. What does it all mean? We have no idea, but anyone who's afraid of heights may want to look away when Florence starts flinging herself across that rooftop and ultimately takes to the skies and starts flying (seriously)."
Following the online release of the video, several publications and users on various websites commented on the use of racism
and racial imagery due to the voodoo man at the beginning. Some viewers on YouTube have suggested that the underlying theme of the video is dubious, while others have taken issue with the use of a black face and body paint by one actor in the video. An article entitled "White Supremacy all dressed up in a pop video is still White Supremacy", posted on the website Racialicious.com, has suggested that the video is packed full of "racist imagery". A writer for the website wrote that the video was guilty of "glorifying the white female central character as representing goodness, all while vilifying the evil dark skinned heathen Other." The writer further stated: "Discussions about whether or not Welch is personally responsible for this racist music video have cropped up. When you break it down and imagine the number of people who were behind the storyboarding, choreographing, casting and creative direction around this video, it is slightly astounding that not one person raised concerns about how problematic this video is."
.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
from their second studio album Ceremonials
Ceremonials
Ceremonials is the second studio album by English indie pop band Florence and the Machine, released in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2011 by Island Records. The album is noted for having a larger, more baroque pop sound than its predecessor, Lungs, with critics drawing comparisons to art rock...
(2011). The song was written by Florence Welch
Florence Welch
Florence Leontine Mary Welch is an English singer-songwriter, best known worldwide as the lead singer of Florence and the Machine...
and Isabella Summers
Isabella Summers
Isabella Summers , also known as Isabella ‘Machine’ Summers, is a British songwriter, producer and member of British band, Florence and the Machine....
while the production was handled by Paul Epworth
Paul Epworth
Paul Epworth is an award-winning British music producer, musician, and songwriter. His production credits include Adele, Cee Lo Green, Florence and the Machine, Plan B, Friendly Fires, Bloc Party, Primal Scream, The Rapture, Jack Peñate, Kate Nash and Maxïmo Park.-Lomax:From 2002-2004 Paul provided...
. Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
will release the song as the second single from the album. An accompanying music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
premiered on 18 November 2011 and it was well-received by music critics.
Background
"No Light, No Light" was written by Florence WelchFlorence Welch
Florence Leontine Mary Welch is an English singer-songwriter, best known worldwide as the lead singer of Florence and the Machine...
and Isabella Summers
Isabella Summers
Isabella Summers , also known as Isabella ‘Machine’ Summers, is a British songwriter, producer and member of British band, Florence and the Machine....
while the production was handled by Paul Epworth
Paul Epworth
Paul Epworth is an award-winning British music producer, musician, and songwriter. His production credits include Adele, Cee Lo Green, Florence and the Machine, Plan B, Friendly Fires, Bloc Party, Primal Scream, The Rapture, Jack Peñate, Kate Nash and Maxïmo Park.-Lomax:From 2002-2004 Paul provided...
. The song was recorded in 2011 at the Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
. According to Welch, "No Light, No Light" was the first song written for the album. During an interview with MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
she confirmed the release of the song. Welch further revealed that the intro of the song was written during the tour in Amsterdam, "We had gone out for Rob [Ackroyd]'s birthday to an all-night restaurant in Brussels called Midnights. We went to this funny restaurant and then got on the tour bus and everyone was a bit drunk and it was like, 'Yeah, let's write a song.'" Welch also said that "No Light, No Light" was also recorded in Amsterdam, "And we recorded the sound of the bus moving, a real drone-y bass sound, and that's the intro, and then the tour bus arrived in Amsterdam [and we were saying], 'Let's go toast this song! We will find a bar that will serve us drinks at 7 in the morning! Come!'.[...] So we trotted off into Amsterdam and managed to find a sports bar that would only serve us Midori. It was bright-green drinks and me and Isa [Summers] kind of looking like crazy old ladies." During an interview with Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Welch further described the song as "one of the biggest tracks on the album."
Composition
The song begins with lyrics talking about fighting with snakeSnake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s as stated by Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. Ryan Dombal of the website Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
commented that "No Light, No Light" was one of the songs where Welch "sets aside her usual flighty, dreamy, goth-y lyrical go-to's-- ghosts, graveyards, devils, angels, myths, drowning-- for something a bit more personal." During the musical bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
of the song Welch sings the lines "Would you leave me, if I told you what I'd become. 'Cause it's so easy to sing it to a crowd/ But it's so hard, my love/ To say it to you out loud." Alix Buscovic of BBC Online compared the song with Florence and the Machine's earlier song "Cosmic Love
Cosmic Love
"Cosmic Love" is a song by Florence and the Machine, and the sixth single from the album Lungs. The single was released through Moshi Moshi Records on July 5, 2010 in the UK....
".
Critical reception
Ryan Dombal of the website Pitchfork Media praised the song, saying that the lines "double as a snippet of self-criticism." He added: "Perhaps Welch finds it 'so easy' to sing her tunes to thousands because they often lack an individual touch that could send them even further skyward-- the same touch that comes so naturally to fellow UK chart queen AdeleAdele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
." Spins Rob Harvilla commented that "No Light, No Light" was "a desperate lovers' quarrel, all agitated strings and galloping drums (no broken jaws or burning beds this time, alas)." Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
magazine's Laura Foster called the song "uplifting" and "typically Florence-sounding" further putting it in her list of "six massive anthems" on Ceremonials. Alex Buscovic of the website BBC Online called "No Light, No Light" a "drum-chased, harp-gilded and hook-jawed" song. However, Buscovic commented that its "epic proportions are too much." Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times called the song an anthem, which according to him, was "as overpowering as 'Dog Days Are Over
Dog Days Are Over
"Dog Days Are Over" is the second single released by Florence and the Machine from their debut album Lungs. It was originally scheduled for release on November 24, 2008 through Moshi Moshi Records in the UK but was later pushed back for release on December 1, 2008...
.'" In his review of Ceremonials, Jillian Mapes of Billboard wrote "'I'd do anything to make you stay / Tell me what you want me to say,' she pleads atop the album's most pulsating tribal drumbeat. Musically, the song exudes utter strength; lyrically, Welch is on her knees."
Background and synopsis
An accompanying music video for the song was released on Florence and the Machine's official VevoVevo
Vevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
account on 18 November 2011. It was directed by Icelandic duo Arni & Kinski. A teaser was also uploaded on their Vevo account on 15 November 2011. The video begins with Welch lying next to a human skull. Several scenes showing a masked and shirtless contortionist
Contortion
thumb|upright|Contortionist performingContortion is an unusual form of physical display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. Contortion is often part of acrobatics and circus acts...
sitting on a chair follow and soon after he starts to dance and takes his mask off. The video then moves into a church where a choir consisting of kids starts singing the song. Welch is then seen atop of a building as the contortionist takes a voodoo doll in his hands. He puts a needle in the doll and Welch falls from the building. She later falls in the church where she's being caught and held by the choir. Shots of Welch being chased by the contortionist in a town are interspersed amongst the other elements of the video.
Reception and controversy
Marc Hogan of SpinSpin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
concluded that the video, "touches on the fine line between spiritual ecstasy and reckless abandon." Jillian Mapes of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
commented that the video is exploring a "territory between Christianity and voodoo spirituality." Mapes further praised the video for being dramatic, but he wrote that "more than that, it's completely absurd." A writer of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
concluded: "[the video] does not shy away from matching the music's melodramatic intensity. In addition to contrasting overtly Christian iconography with images of some kind of voodoo priest, the harrowing climax is paired with footage of Florence Welch falling from the top of a skyscraper." Writing for Dose
Dose (magazine)
Dose is a daily Canadian news website and former daily print magazine.Dose was a mixture of standalone features and coverage of daily news, sometimes from an irreverent perspective...
, Leah Collins found "seriously life-threatening juju going on in No Light, No Light [video]" Nick Neyland of Prefix Magazine wrote: "That song ["No Light. No Light"] just got a suitably opulent video, which is full or religious imagery, Florence perched atop a building in Manhattan, and a strange masked figure. What does it all mean? We have no idea, but anyone who's afraid of heights may want to look away when Florence starts flinging herself across that rooftop and ultimately takes to the skies and starts flying (seriously)."
Following the online release of the video, several publications and users on various websites commented on the use of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and racial imagery due to the voodoo man at the beginning. Some viewers on YouTube have suggested that the underlying theme of the video is dubious, while others have taken issue with the use of a black face and body paint by one actor in the video. An article entitled "White Supremacy all dressed up in a pop video is still White Supremacy", posted on the website Racialicious.com, has suggested that the video is packed full of "racist imagery". A writer for the website wrote that the video was guilty of "glorifying the white female central character as representing goodness, all while vilifying the evil dark skinned heathen Other." The writer further stated: "Discussions about whether or not Welch is personally responsible for this racist music video have cropped up. When you break it down and imagine the number of people who were behind the storyboarding, choreographing, casting and creative direction around this video, it is slightly astounding that not one person raised concerns about how problematic this video is."
Live performances
The band performed the song live for the first time during the show Later... with Jools Holland on 1 November 2011. Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone praised the performance saying: "Florence Welch is backed by her full band plus a string section, but as overwhelming as the sound gets, her incredible voice remains the focal point of the performance." Later, on 20 November 2011, they performed the song on Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.