Florence and the Machine - Lungs

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Florence and the Machine - Lungs

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Man, if you wanna read a ridiculous amount of critical praise lavished upon a musical release, look no further, because that's what I'm giving this phenomenal debut album from London-born Florence Welch and musical cohorts. Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Reviewer
Brad
Categories
Music

Reviewed by Brad Cook

Florence + the Machine - Lungs

Funny how a person can go from unknown to so highly revered in one's mind in such a short span of time. Florence Welch has made that quantum leap in my mind. I had no idea who she was until recently, but after hearing just one song off of Florence and the Machine's full length debut, Lungs, I knew there was something quite special within. The album is such an excellent, refined collection of fleshed out pieces that you might never look at music the same after having heard it.

You may begin to feel bits and pieces of the full effect of this album just by listening to the opening track, "Dog Days Are Over". The song teases you with a jangly ukulele introduction, as Florence comes in quietly, if only to lull you into a false sense of security as the other instruments periodically enter the mix until it builds into the bombastic, energizing anthem that the song will so quickly become to you. This song is dangerously infectious. Forget the swine flu; get sick on this. I could seriously listen to this song like 500 times on repeat. It just makes you wish your speakers were created by whoever made Spinal Tap's amps go to 11, because 10 just isn't loud enough. As you're lying in a daze on the floor from the swift blow to the head that is "Dog Days Are Over," "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" strides in the back door and picks you up, and teaches you how to aviate on the high flying vocals that comprise the chorus - "This is a gift, it comes with a price / Who is the lamb, and who is the knife / Midas is king, and he holds me so tight / And turns me to gold in the sunlight". It's at this point that you realize that the absolute vocal intensity that you've experienced thus far might just be who Florence Welch is. A song or two later, "Howl" begins, sounding like the theme from an 80's horror flick, until Florence comes in singing in a Chili Peppers-esque rhyme scheme and blowing your mind with how seemingly easy she can craft a song that sounds like nothing you've ever heard, yet everything good in music at the same time. In a bit, you'll experience "Drumming Song", a tune based around the pretty damn cool drum beat that opens it, and it's at THIS point that you'll realize that The Machine, Florence's backing band, is as integral a part of this album as Florence herself. The instrumentation on this album is of such high quality, in terms of creativity, uniqueness, and effectiveness, and the breadth of instruments displayed on the album is an accomplishment, indeed. Even just the percussion instruments probably boast double digits, numerically.

Coming off "Drumming Song", "Between Two Lungs" slowly ambles toward the second half of the song, which doubles the tempo and significantly increases the awesomeness of it, breathing into it new life of intricate rhythm and a lush backdrop of background vocals and melody. "Cosmic Love" conjures appropriate images of young people experiencing an overwhelming first love under a starry night sky, thunderously engraving one another into their hearts. "My Boy Builds Coffins", seemingly an allegory about how death inevitably finds us all, has a pleasant, finger-picked guitar part, made even brighter and textured with the plucking of a harp. "Hurricane Drunk" has drastically different verses and choruses, detailing how crappy it feels when infatuation is one sided, or perhaps even an unknown to the second party.

Lungs has at least six absolute must-hear songs that are so original, powerful, intricate, and affective that you'd be a fool to not experience them, and the other six come very highly recommended. The songs you shouldn't go another moment without hearing are: "Dog Days Are Over", "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)", "Howl", "Drumming Song", "Between Two Lungs", and "Cosmic Love". Grooveshark 'em if you have to, just find a way to get to them. Even though this is a debut album, there's a maturity to the music that allows Florence and the Machine to branch out and move above and beyond the norm, in terms of song structure, variety, and originality. There's a depth to each song that is largely untapped in today's world of music; it's just so obvious that so much time, effort, and meticulous care was put into each and every song. Florence likes to play building blocks with her music - The Machine usually provides the foundation, upon which she layers heaps and heaps of background vocals, noises, and effects to achieve a certain texture or melody, and then tops it off with the main vocal layer, which is so effectively complimentary to the rest of what's going on, it's absurd. To say that these songs are fleshed out doesn't do them justice. Florence's voice seems to be infinite in its capabilities; it can be throaty and full, whispery and sultry, quiet and smooth, and/or explosive and raw, and she's certainly not afraid to let herself go and let the music take her where she needs it to, and this quality has irradiated off of her and onto her music, imbuing it with a feeling of liberation and beauty free of restraint and other boundaries. Each and every song has a million reasons and ways to love it. This is music that transcends gender and mindset, and bridges musical gaps. Chances are, Lungs will blow you away.

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