Florence and the Machine is the latest power-pop queen to emerge from that cold island, which up until recently was renowned for their shit weather, shitter cricket team and a bunch of average looking women.
These days they're enjoying heat waves, beating us in the Ashes and developing some very lovely girls to look at. Florence Welch happens to be one of these girls. She has joined the ranks of Lily, Kate and Adele and it suddenly seems that the world has gone topsy-turvy.
I must say this album is simultaneously one of the most amazingly gorgeous and disappointingly inconsistent albums this year. Quite the conundrum. Half her songs are simply fantastic, pop gold. The others, well they kinda suck.
So what am i supposed to do? Focus on the good and leave out the bad? Or just rip them to pieces? Well considering the British media has done a pretty comprehensive job at the latter, i might try to shine some light on some of the coolest pop songs this year.
Kiss with a Fist is a great indie-pop opener that borrows with a heavy hand from the 2001 version of The White Stripes, which is nothing to complain about considering that was their peak, before the 'fat zorro incident' anyway. Though some may doubt Flo's sensitivity in writing such a throw-away pop song that's main statement towards its audience is how staying with an abusive boyfriend is better than being alone. Take that conservative political values! Nevertheless! It is great garage pop nonsense that flies through your speakers in a bit over two minutes, and is charming with every second.
Lead off single Dogs Days are Over ditches the tuned-down guitars for piano stabs and marching beats and the result is a glorious success. A driving force that builds its pace slowly before cantering to a rollicking stomp/clap anthem, its climax has almost euphoric pop qualities making it destined for the "Top 25 Played" play lists of many teenage girls' itunes. Oh and Nova might need new underwear.
Hurricane Drunk provides us with the obligatory ballad, though thankfully and rather unsurprisingly it's not as generic as most female pop singers (cough Kelly Clarkson cough), aided mostly due to Florence's beautifully soulful voice. Her voice has the range of the great Miss Winehouse but without the nasal twang makes you notice the size of her nose. Casting herself as the heartbroken woman who has been broken up with (original huh?) the song doesn't try to be or do too much, which is strangely pleasing. It comes across not only as genuine and real but as a very raw expression of her emotion, again due in part to her lush vocals.
Following from the epic galloping drums of Dogs Days are Over is the similarly apocalyptic Cosmic Love. The song sounds as if the planets are colliding and the finger-picked ukulele underpins Flo's soaring almost screaming vocals, Bjork would struggle to create this amount of drama and keep it so enchantingly beautiful.
Probably the boldest move on the album, and a highlight if for no other reason but ambition, is the closer You've Got The Love, a cover of an old happy-vocal-house track by Candi Station. Its transformation into a piano led desperate plea for love and its earnestness makes quite a simple song captivating and heartfelt. Its mere conception deserves praise yet the execution of the track is delightfully underplayed, an apt finish for an album that blooms and wilts with nearly every track.
The album's biggest treasure paradoxically has the least enticing title, an epic and almost progressive pop masterpiece that is randomly and inexplicably called Rabbit Heart. Despite the initial disgust of a Chinatown restaurant window popping into my head, the song radiates warmth. Its gospel-tinged melody and hands in the air chorus is sure to be crowd-pleasing to the teenage girls and indie hipsters alike, and with this sure-fire single it's only a matter of time before Florence dominates the airwaves of commercial radio and fantasies of teenage boys. Just like Lily and all of their other dainty English friends...
P.S - Any of you disco fiends out there will love the Leo Zero remix of Rabbit Heart, as I am sure you know that piano house is godly.
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