Track Listing

1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming Song
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane
12. Blinding
13. You've Got The Love

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5 in Music
• Released on: 2009-07-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 46 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Already the year’s most hyped new artist--not only first in the BBC’s famously unreliable poll of new talent and recipient of a special Brit award devised just for her--Florence Welsh has a lot to live up to, and thankfully the artfully titled and sleeved Lungs justifies the investment. The singles are undeniably the standouts. The impressive "Dog Days Are Over", neurotic and fierce, and the slightly more reserved follow-up "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" lead her debut collection, sometimes overshadowing her other material. Yet the extremes of "Kiss With A Fist", a jokey celebration of mutual domestic violence and noisy guitars that shamelessly steals its melody from the White Stripes’ charming "We Are Gonna Be Friends", and the showstopping, almost unashamedly stagy "Girl With One Eye" show off both her development and an already instantly recognisable voice. The gallows humour of songs like "Between Two Lungs", the daft "My Boy Builds Coffins" and the ferocious "Hurricane Drunk" where she threatens "I’m gonna drink myself to death" backed by a spirited choir of Florences, save her from accusations of self-absorption. The concluding, and hugely loud "Blinding" is all Kate Bush tics over bruising drum patterns. So a straightforward and affectionate cover of the classic Candi Staton and Source club banger "You’ve Got The Love", previously only available online, comes as a welcome chance to get one’s breath back. Much better than an apparent plan to position her as some kind of missing link between PJ Harvey and Avril Lavigne suggested, Lungs is a clever, catchy set, yet unresolved enough to sustain curiosity.--Steve Jelbert

CD Description
Florence Welch, better known alongside her band as Florence + The Machine, confidently announces her arrival on Lungs. With several strong singles taking up a fair portion of this debut release, it's clear that Welch is as much a pop writer as she is a left-field artist, despite the early influence of punk and grunge on her life. Musically, these influences are tempered by an admiration for soul and contemporary indie. Welch also received the Critics' Choice award at the Brits in 2009, usually a sign of big things to come. Includes the singles "You've Got The Love" and "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)".

Customer Reviews

Lungs
A truly bombastic record displaying influences of Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Nick Cave. Simplistic style drumming, occultist rhythm and a truly lovely voice with an edge and power create a distinctive style. There is no filler whatsoever on this album, don't make the mistake of just buying a few of the singles buy the whole album.

Album of the year and one of a rare few albums of the decade
Me and female singers have never really gotten along. I much prefer to listen to the sounds of Thom Yorke or Brandon Flowers or (dare I say) Bono. Whilst my mates fawn over Bjork or Tori Amos or Britney they kind of leave me cold. Then along comes Florence and the Machine. In a year which has been pretty shoddy for decent albums this rises head and shoulders above any other long player. it's so good I could almost imagine Kate Bush discovering this album and sending her minions out to bring this 'florence girl' straight to her. I was fortunate to see her live last month and she's truly a star. When you hear music like this and know that we're still able to discover stars in the world of digital disposal music it makes you sick to your stomach that Simon Cowell is driving the heart and soul out of music. The odd thing is, Florence probably wouldn't have made it past week one of X Factor.

Finding Florence
When I first heard Florence and the Machine on Steve Lamacq's show I didn't get it. Here was an artist who was being hyped as a live sensation and one of the tips for 2009 and it didn't impress me. I didn't see anything special in the music, the voice or the delivery. It just didn't add up for me. But then recently I heard most recent single `Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)' whilst driving on a sunny day with the windows down and the radio up. Then it clicked. And so here I am on a Sunday afternoon sitting on the floor of my living room with a beer in hand having just watched the Wimbledon Men's final, and Florence is singing down my ear "I'll cut your little heart out, `cause you made me cry."

Florence and the Machine for me is the glorious sound of someone who has sat down with a piano and a drum kit having just listened to too much Tori Amos and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Florence has a strangely ethereal voice helped along by the slight echo in quieter moments of the songs and the layered choral like backing vocals. The sound is deceptive. It is simultaneously demanding and seductive. The drums are relatively simple designed for no other reason than to drive the songs. The piano adds melody in support of Florence's voice and if you listen carefully there are subtle layers an nuances in it that will slowly be uncovered as you listen more.
To follow all this Florence and the Machine could not hope for a better debut. It is simply a joy to listen to. The tracks fly by but you remember every beat of them. `Dog Days are Over' is a brilliant start and following this with the most recent single adds a nice bit familiarity. Tracks like `Howl' and `Kiss with a Fist' are then great additions before the rhythmic genius of `Drumming Song'. It then gets a little more widescreen and epic in its sound with the combination of `Between Two Lungs' and `Cosmic Love'. It then relaxes down to a more intimate and personal sound for the final three tracks which round off the whole album nicely.

It is a well crafted album that exhibits the quality and diversity of this band and especially Florence's wonderful voice. I feel like I have now found Florence and I don't want to go back.

Enjoy!