“No Light, No Light” by Florence And The Machine

"No Light, No Light" was the first song Florence Welch and Isabella Summers wrote for Ceremonials, Florence and the Machine's second album, sketched on the tour bus in Amsterdam and then handed to producer Paul Epworth. Island released it as the record's second single on 16 January 2012. Welch sings about a relationship stretched thin and her desperate push to keep it from snapping, and critics zeroed in on that voice and the drums hammering underneath.

Epworth makes it enormous: Christopher Lloyd Hayden on drums, Mark Saunders on percussion and bass, Tom Moth's harp, a string section six violins deep plus viola and cello, and backing singers including Jessie Ware and Jack Peñate. The video, by Icelandic duo Arni & Kinski, sends Welch to the top of a skyscraper and has a contortionist chase her.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.