Powerful Lungs

James Brown had his “Sex Machine.” The Jackson 5 gave us a “Dancing Machine.” Pink Floyd welcomed us to it and The Police warned us of ghosts within it.

Now there’s Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine, who has two: her backing band and the scariest device in all of music, the hype machine. No one’s been more hotly tipped by the music press this year than the South London lass with a Brit Award already under her belt (2009 Critic’s Choice). Luckily, her debut, Lungs (which has been out digitally since July, but is finally out on CD today), is filled with more than hot air. Her best tunes — the singles “Dog Days Are Over‚” “Kiss With a Fist‚” and “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” — are full of wondrous touches: madrigal melodies, Gregorian chants, lutes, harps and mandolins, all anchored by the brutal pulse of old blues.

And then there’s that voice. When the girl wails in her inexhaustible contralto, get out of the way! She can sound like an orchestra of angry chorines (“Cosmic Love”) or the entire Bulgarian National Women’s Choir (“Between Two Lungs”). Now that we think about it, the hype machine’s been neither as loud nor as fierce as this set of Lungs deserves.


Lungs is out on CD today from Universal Republic Records.