You wouldn't compare Incredible String Band to The Beatles just because they are both male guitar bands from the 60's would you? That in mind it is eternally frustrating that just because Florence and the Machine is a young woman making music, she is repeatedly compared to other young women, Little Boots and La Roux, who are making completely different music.
Musical sexism aside, it is difficult to align Florence Welch's debut album, Lungs, released on uber-hip lable, Moshi Moshi Records last week, with any of her contemporaries (unless you're bringing genitalia into this). Florence and the Machine's hyperbolic combination of bold, deep-lunged vocals, ethereal harps, unhinged percussion and raw bluesy guitar riffs, with a little bit of synth thrown in for good measure, is indeed, pretty unique.
Florence Welch, under her Florence and the Machine guise has been making music and steadily building a following over the last couple of years, making her name on the London gig scene (including a wonderful perfomance at the legendary Blue Flowers night, vid below) with pared down, bluesy tracks, her powerful and unusual voice stealing the show.
While her indie style cover of dance classic, You Got the Love, is no less than a perfect pop song, I was concerned that for Lungs, the simplitic style for which we had grown to love Florence might have been similarly tarted up to the point of losing its essence.
I was however pleasantly surpised when I gave my shiny new copy of the album a spin this weekend. While tracks such as Girl with One Eye, one of Florence and the Machine's earlier, bluesier songs, has indeed been revved up, the bombarding crescendo of booming bass drums, absent from early unplugged versions, actually lend the track a lot of power without polishing it up, or outdoing Florence's voice too much.
Similarly, Between Two Lungs, Dog Days and Kiss with a Fist remain as they have always been, while the gorgeously dark ballad, I'm not Calling you a Liar, continues along similar lines.
The major record label (Moshi Moshi is owned by Island) is present in the form of lead single, Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up), and My Boy Builds Coffins, but they are far from offensive tracks, and if anything give the album a little bit of pace and variety.
Lungs is not on Spotify so you will actually have to buy it, but the Deluxe version comes with seven further tracks making it fully worth it.