Ceremonials is the second studio album by English indie rock band Florence + The Machine. The group started working on it in 2010 and finished it in the following year. The standard edition of the record was entirely produced by Paul Epworth, who also worked prominently on the band’s debut album, Lungs.
While talking to BBC, Florence Welch discussed how the lyrics of the new record diverge from the previous one:
The atmosphere is quite tough but the lyrics are moving away from gothic horror toward something that’s slightly more chemical.
To promote the album, seis singles were released. The promotional “What the Water Gave Me” was released on 23 August 2011 as a teaser for the record. Then, “Shake It Out” was released a month later as the album’s official lead single, becoming one of the band’s most commercially successful ones to date. “No Light, No Light” and “Never Let Me Go” came after. “Spectrum (Say My Name)”, the fifth single, was fueled by a remix by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris and became Florence + The Machine’s first number-one single in the UK. The album’s sixth and final single, “Lover to Lover”, was released on late November that same year. Ceremonials was also promoted by the band by a worldwide tour, the Ceremonials Tour (2011–12).
Welch told A Journal Of Musical Things in 2011 that the album title was inspired by some video art she watched. She explained:
Years and years ago, I saw an art exhibition and there was this video art piece called ‘Ceremonials’. It was done in the 70s and was done in Super-8 and it’s kind of Coquette-sy – there’s that documentary called Coquette about this 70s theatre troup that lives in San Francisco and I came kind of obsessed with it. This video piece is all about these processions and it’s kind of colour based and everyone’s wearing masks and there’s all kinds of different colours…coloured balloons…and strange ceremonies going on. That word – ceremonies – got stuck in my head. And then went it came to this album which was influenced by hymns and poems and sounds of church bells. There’s kind a lot of ceremonial influences and aspects to it, so it seemed to fit.
However, another title was first considered for Ceremonials. In an October 2011 interview with NME, Florence explained she wanted to name the album Violence:
The violence. Mmm. The word itself I’m obsessed with. I wanted to call this whole record just Violence. A violent emotion. You can feel things violently. It’s a beautiful word. I’m such a non-violent person, too. I keep so much inside. I’m the least aggressive person ever. I can’t argue.
Ceremonials received positive reviews from music critics, who drew comparisons to artists such as Kate Bush, while also praising the instrumentation, Florence Welch’s vocals and the production of the songs. It appeared on several year-end critics' lists in late 2011. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the album received a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album, while “Shake It Out” was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
The record debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band’s second consecutive number-one album. It also debuted at number one in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, and peaked at #6 on the US Billboard 200, becoming the band’s first top-10 album in the United States. Worldwide, the album has sold 2.5 million copies.
On 19th April 2022 before performing live at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Florence spoke to the audience about how the album is a record she loves, but also indicative of a time in her life where she did “feel the most under water”. She also confessed that she “had time to think and feel more sympathetic for that person who had to write a whole record of feeling like they were under the ocean”, thanking the fanbase for how far they’ve helped her come in the journey for acceptance of songs that she has been trying to push away. Earlier this year, a compilation album Water To Drink Not Think About was released with songs who have a special connection to water being one of the central focuses. It includes 3 songs from Ceremonials: “Never Let Me Go”, “What The Water Gave Me” and “Landscape (Demo)”.