Florence and the Machine: Lungs

The final pronged attack of the ladies set to dominate the sound of ’09 has arrived. Tipped as the sound of 2009 by the BBC and winning a BRIT award before she even released an album, Florence Welsh finally delivers a full length album. Based on the hype of two promising singles the album appears destined to fail, her career over before it has even began. Fortunately, ‘Lungs’ is beaming with confidence from the youthful 22 year old delivering quite a clever and catchy set in her debut. Unlike her other two contemporaries to whom she has been intrinsically linked to, she doesn’t solely remain within the genre of electronic. She delves into soul, indie, contemporary pop and an altogether more leftfield approach. Those big singles from which she gained such prominence, ’Rabbit Heart’ and ‘Dogs Days Are Over’, are great offerings. The later being fierce and neurotic whilst the former is a touch of electronic genius. Her voice is already instantly recognizable; powerful, yet homed in and fully controlled. Kate Bush comparisons are obvious here with a lot of complex layers and percussion fully complemented with airy vocals. However, there are numerous influences here. ‘Kiss with a Fist’ gives us a different side, more like a rockier version of KT Tunstall, and the understated cover version of club classic ‘You’ve Got the Love’ is fantastic. We are also treated to some perfectly pleasant pop tunes with ’Hurricane Drunk’ and ‘Cosmic Love’. This artist is hard to pin down and is probably one of her greatest assets. It’s too early to say she is the greatest thing to come along since, well, who knows who! However, a great debut offering from Florence and the Machine.