It took a couple listens for some of the tracks to click, but for me this is another great album from her. My AOTY I think
She's always been a bit of a one-album wonder for me, in that I adore Ceremonials and have never liked anything else she's made even half as much. This one definitely comes the closest to that vibe, so I've been enjoying it, even though the actual songs are definitely not as good.
That's so funny, because I don't quite disagree that Ceremonials is definitely in her era of being great, but Between Two Lungs is far and away her opus for me, it's incredible, and for me Ceremonials feels like a bit of a neutered version of that album. Still great though. First three albums she was cooking, then she kinda fell into the trap of being a bit of a parody of herself and lost the spark
I like Lungs too. It's a little more hit or miss for me, and I don't think she'd quite locked in on the signature spooky/witchy vibe yet. Which, if you feel like she's become a self-parody, might be a point in its favor for you, lol. My top 5 favorite Florence songs are probably all from Ceremonials though.
Mine are probably from the first haha For me it's not as specifically the spooky/witchy, I just think the three recent albums were too much style over substance where the songwriting takes the backseat and there's not really anything to attach you to the songs anymore, it's just vibes and stories. Which, again is fine, but not my favorite version of her music