Florence is a Machine

March 12th, 2010

We Love Florence

Florence Welch is the lead singer of the band Florence + the Machine. Florence Welch is a machine.

Florence Welch’s distinctive voice intertwines beautifully with harps, strings and drums as she sings her inimitable ‘soul-inspired indie’ and ‘Tim Burton-style fairytales’.
-Paul Epworth

If you’re not familiar with Florence Welch by now, I could easily go on and scold you for hours on end. Then again, she is all the way from from London, England. The thing is, though, that her freaking incredible talent is capable of travelling over the Atlantic. She’s that boomin’. This woman has talent beyond belief. Don’t believe me? Listen to THIS. So great.

Anyhow, this’ll preeee’ much just be a little bit of an expose of her career so far, but since she’s only released one album, it will be more of a “briefly deconstruct each song from Lungs (her debut album)” type thing. But who knows. I could easily go off into a Florence fiesta-type tangent and never even finish this blog. Who knows.

Lungs, which once again is Florence’s first album, was released in mid-2009. Of course, Lungs hit #1 in the UK and in just a month sold over 100,000 copies in the UK alone. 6 (six!!!!) singles sprung from the record, only to pull Florence even further into the spotlight. Since 2009, Florence + the Machine has raked in eight awards: “Best International Band”, “Mastercard British Album”, “Musician of the Year”, etc etc. The list goes on – trust me. Florence says that Lungs is mainly about a breakup that she had with a boyfriend. “…I spilled your blood upon the floor. You broke my leg in return…” Harsh breakup; great music.

[Editor's note: my name is Wendy, and I approve of this blog - after all, Lungs was my favourite album of 2009.]

Carry on for track analysis!

Florence at Mod Club

Track Analysis:

1. “Dog Days Are Over”
This is the kind of song that would save a really shitty album. By no means am I saying that Lungs is a shitty album, though. On the contrary, really. This song is really great and all, but not my favourite on the album or anything. Upbeat and spunky almost. A nice wide variety of instruments. Tambourines! Nevermind. I love this song.
[Editor's note: Fie!! "Dog Days" is definitely in my top 3 of the album. The last 30 seconds alone is worth the price of admission; when was the last time you ever felt such joy in a song?]

2. “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”
Like the song says: “We raise it up… raise it up…” The song is sort of in neutral until about 1:05. That’s when it e-x-p-l-o-d-e-s. The talk of King Midas, lion-hearted girls and so on and so forth makes me happy. I’d rank this numero #3 on the album.

3. “I’m Not Calling You A Liar”
I particularly like this song because of the vocals. Come on. They’re tremendous. I don’t even care about the music here. I could listen to her talk for hour on end. I don’t even care. Wicked voice.

4. “Howl”
Without a doubt, best song on the album. It fully represents what she’s trying to convey through Lungs: power, soulfulness, grandness, bliss. I could listen to this song on repeat for hours on end; the reality is that I do, though. It’s just so bold, loud and *shudder*… beautiful.
[Editor's note: I disagree - not the best song, but definitely at least third best. :)]

5. “Kiss With A Fist”
Most upbeat song on the album, forshiz. It’s funny, really. As Florence describes her and a guy literally beating the living shit out of each other, you can’t help but dance (or do something of the same nature) to the beat of the song. There’s really nothing like having a plate smashed over your head that makes you want to get up and dance.
[Editor's note: If you're one of the 7 people who saw Jennifer's Body, you totally heard this track in the movie.]

6. “Girl With One Eye”
This one I mainly like for the lyrics. Check ‘em out: [here]

7. “Drumming Song”
Kinda like “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up),” this tune is a “build-up-y… BAM” type of song. And who doesn’t like one of those? There’s also bongos in the song I think. WHO DOESN’T LOVE BONGOS???
[Editor's Note: Dude, I LAHV this song. So, so much. Don't be afraid to get tribal in your apartment when the last minute hits.]

Florence at Mod Club

8. “Between Two Lungs”
Me like. Me like a lot. Her voice here, too, is just killer. I guess that’s why Wendy said [here] that when “she opens her mouth to sing…instantly the crowd is her bitch.” Evidence, ma friends.
[Editor's Note: Wendy is me! I'm Wendy! Weeeeee.]

9. “Cosmic Love”
Warning: After listening, check your speakers for bleeding. So good. If you were going to listen to one song off of the album, let this be it. Second favourite song on the album.
[Editor's Note: I don't get it. The whole world loves "Cosmic Love" but it's a grower for me (still growing).]

10. “My Boy Builds Coffins”
This song got off to a slow start with me. I didn’t really give it a chance, though. Compared to Florence’s bold-…ity in some other song, it can be hard to realize that this really is a brilliant song. The lyrics, the vocals. But most of all, it gives you a wicked fuzzy feeling inside. Not sure why. Nice though.
[Editor's Note: I love it. That's all. Always did, always will.]

11. “Hurricane Drunk”
I love the swingy sorta beat that this one entails. I also notice a bit more harp in this song that any other song. Harp is good! In a bad mood? “Hurricane Drunk” won’t only make you feel better; it will make you feel f*cking fantastic!

12. “Blinding”
VOCALS! That is all.

13. “You’ve Got The Love”
Second favourite song! Harps! Vocals! Lyrics! Florence! Amazeballs! It all seems to come together here. It’s obvious that Florence wanted to end the album on a high note with an upbeat, hot track, but this is ridiculous!!! This song makes me drool. I love it.
[Editor's Note: One of the clear favourites when she performed live; you might recognize it from the last episode of Sex And The City .. or if you're old like me, this version.].

So, let’s take a step back and take a look at what we’ve discovered. Florence had an amazing, soulful, powerful voice. She writes interesting and entertaining lyrics. She uses instruments (did I mention the harp?) to her extreme advantage. Her voice pretty much just meshes with anything and everything. She’s just amazing.

Now, there’s no way in hell I would have written this all up for no reason! I command you *shakes fist* to listen to what I’ve said… and LISTEN TO FLORENCE. Because afterall: Florence is a machine.

EDITOR’S ADDITION:
Hey. What’s up. First of all, what he said (all of it). Get down with Flo.
Second of all, I bought the deluxe version of Lungs on iTunes (HIGHLY RECOMMEND). I will now do a track-by-track rundown of the BONUS SONGS!!!

“Bird Song Intro”
A short instrumental that I adore. Upbeat, happy, fairy-tale like. I was disappointed to not hear it live, but then I realized most artists don’t toy with their extra songs on promo tours.

“Bird Song”
The intro leads directly into this, a whimsical tune that took me a few listens but now I would for sure put it in my top 7 Flo tunes. The story is so strange, but that’s Florence, and that’s why like her.

“Dog Days Are Over (demo)”
A more stripped back version of the one heard on the album – not as lush and layered, but the “we-just-recorded-this-in-a-basement!!!” feel is just as infectious.

“Falling”
Ok, not gonna lie. A skipper for me; but I think cause I just haven’t paid attention to it yet.

“Hardest of Hearts”
A foggy forest, doom-filled kinda tune that is of course performed well, but not a big spinner for me.

“Swimming”
Somehow this fell by the wayside in my early days, but I discovered it a few months ago and now I can’t get enough. I really love how FATM use drums & rhythms in all tracks – some stronger and more hard-hitting than others. “The Drumming Song” is (duh) on the extreme side, whereas “Swimming” feels a little less pound-ier, but more peppy-er. I don’t know what I’m really saying here – it just feels so, so good.

Tags: across the pond, album reviews, albums, brit love, correspondents, expose, FATM, florence + the machine, Florence and the Machine, good tunes, music