Florence + the Machine

Florence + the Machine's Florence Welsh is not an Amy Winehouse rip-off. She may be a whimsical Brit with a soul power voice and provocative lyrics, but unlike Adele,Kate Nash, Lily Allen,Pixie Lott and Duffy, Welsh is armed with an essential element that separates the girlies from the divas, she has something to say worth saying and she uses a vocabulary and style all her own to express her beautiful, often ethereal, musical stances.

On her debut LP, Lungs, Welsh's voice flowers and flows over her busy, bluesy arrangements. Her voice, one part Annie Lennox on part Kate Bush, proves to be perhaps the albums biggest revelation. She's able to be simultaneously sweet and sour, creating a sound that's as serious as it is coquettish. On "I'm Not Calling You a Liar" lyric's such as "I'm not calling you a ghost, but stop haunting me" signifies her lyrical brightness and her dedication to macabre. This theme is continued in songs like "Girl with One Eye" and "My Boy Builds Coffins". But with Welsh these themes don't seem nearly as much like childish obsession and with everything Tim Burton and Garbage Pail Kids as say, Evanessance. Welsh seems to have something to say about life, love and death, and the tragic, beautiful continuum that exist between the trio. It's deep shit! It's a great Album.

3/4