Album Review: Lungs by Florence and the Machine

Photo from Wikipedia

Words by: Anna Júlia Chafer

Technical details
Year: 2009
Genre: Indie rock/pop, Baroque pop
Length: 46:15 minutes
Country: England

When I first heard “Breath of Life”, the song Florence + The Machine composed for the movie Snow White and The Huntsman, I felt strange, but powerful. I found myself loving this unexpected music I encountered by chance, and wanting more.

I heard a few songs by them; “Spectrum” was, after “Breath Of Life”, the first, and after it, came “Drumming Song” and “Rabbit Heart” -the last two are in this album I’m reviewing-, but, I don’t know why, I didn’t pay them attention again. So it took me long time to hear Lungs, their first album, in its totality. But I finally heard it, and I couldn’t help cursing myself for having missed out on this music. Because, if you haven’t guessed it by now, let me tell you something: Florence + The Machine’s music is something unusual but incredible, and please, don’t do like me and give them a listen.

Florence + The Machine’s stunning first studio album, Lungs, is a gem impossible to define. The band, whose deep core is formed by its lead singer, Florence Welch, and Isabella Summers, who plays the keyboard and sings the backing vocals, has a truly unique sound that shows in every one of their songs. And this debut is the perfect proof to show this band has still a lot to say in the current music scene.

Most of the songs, as Welch herself says, are based in a break up with her boyfriend: “He prefers me not to talk about it. It's funny then singing about it”. This can be easily seen in tracks such as “I’m Not Calling You A Liar”, “Kiss With A Fist” -which was the first single of the album- or “My Boy Builds Coffins”.

But love is not the only topic the band covers, as, even though most of their songs leave a lot to every one’s interpretation, we can get glimpses of freedom, pain, fear and all kind of lyrical metaphors that enrich the poetic, raw beauty of music and lyrics in this album.

The album in its entirety has a strange, magical feeling, and mixes witchy choirs, powerful drums, and renaissance-like sounds with Florence Welch’s ever-powerful belting voice. It may be a risky proposal at first sight, as it is not the usual music we can find -I myself was really confused when for the first time I stumbled upon one of their second album’s songs, “Spectrum”-, but once you’ve recovered from the initial shock, you may end loving them as much as I do now. And, even if then their music is not your usual style, at least you’ll have heard some of the most notable indie music of this last years.

My favorite songs on this album, and the ones I think stand out more, are “Dog Days Are Over”, “Howl”, “Girl With One Eye”, “Cosmic Love” and “Hurricane Drunk”.

Tracklist:

1.- Dog Days Are Over - 4:13
2.- Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - 3:52
3.- I’m Not Calling You A Liar - 3:05
4.- Howl - 3:34
5.- Kiss With A Fist - 2:04
6.- Girl With One Eye - 3:39
7.- Drumming Song - 3:44
8.- Between Two Lungs - 4:09
9.- Cosmic Love - 4:16
10.- My Boy Builds Coffins - 2:57
11.- Hurricane Drunk - 3:13
12.- Blinding - 4:40
13.- You’ve Got The Love - 2:49

Singles:
1.- Kiss With A Fist
2.- Dog Days Are Over
3.- Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
4.- Drumming Song
5.- You’ve Got The Love
6.- Cosmic Love