Making to attack

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Florence & the Machine / Lungs

The road to this release has been paved with hype so the debut from Florence & The Machine has lots to live up to.
The comparisons vocally to Kate Bush have come as thick and fast as the ballyhoo and hyperbole about what the long player was going to deliver.
What it does bring is disparate inspiration together to form something at once familiar and yet new.
From the opener of Dog Days Are Over the harp provides a light foil as the beat gallops into the chorus, urging a clap-along. From here straight onto current single Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - a through the looking glass story of sacrifice in exchange for courage with a touch of soul and disco chanting thrown in.
Howl's try-to-be ethereal chant fades clunkily into Kiss With A Fist, true to the original single release, bringing a rockabilly beat to a tale of violent love, the dark subject matter and threatening under pull given a light-hearted touch like many of the other songs on this album (see also Girl With One Eye and My Boy Builds Coffins). The blues vocals meeting folk-tinged melody with harp shimmies and hand-claps are the tried and tested style here and it works well in contrast to the dark humour scattered in the lyrics.
While Between Two Lungs' vocal melody is a second cousin to Maximo Park's Now I'm All Over The Shop the pared down clap/click beat and Kate Bush infusion is a heady brew bringing in one of the more obviously stand-out moments of the LP.
This album shows that Florence & The Machine are worthy of the hype they have been given but that they're not going to slap you round the face with their prowess. This is a collection which needs commitment to realise its full potential. First listens give good impressions of pretty enough gothical glamour ditties while a longer investment will bring a higher return of some stunning moments to savour (however, it could have done without the soulless karaoke version of Candi Staton's You Got The Love).

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