Lungs: Florence + The Machine

A young man sits in front of a television screen, waiting for a satellite signal to finally stop being so shitty for once. Tonight is Thursday, which means that today, this young man trapped in the little Mexican village gets to be connected with the English-speaking world via The Jonathan Ross show on BBC Mexico, just about the only program not mind-numbingly, unintelligibly dubbed over. Tonight’s guests were a hodgepodge of random actors trying to salvage their careers, and finally an act from London headed by a booming-voiced redhead. Normally, the young man would have changed the channel uninterested, but the music coming from the shitty television was far too epic to ignore.

Eventually, the handsome young man made his way to the United States, where music and the Internet was readily available. It was quickly apparent that the BBC Mexico was far behind in its programming, as the episode was months old. Further research led our protagonist on a wild goose chase for an album that seemed to not exist. What he knew was that it was called “Lungs,” and it was the premier album from Florence and the Machine, that tremendous London band led by the mannish redhead.

From track 1 to 13, you are surrounded by a wall of sound that takes you on a journey through the raw emotions and complex combinations of sound that I haven’t heard in ages. The light springy sounds are enough to make even the most gray rainy day seem like a sun-drenched summer afternoon on the beach. Tracks like Howl and Kiss With a Fist, which aren’t even official singles, demonstrate the amazing range of this handsome Briton. You can buy the album on iTunes for relatively cheap, or you can make your way to a local record shop and support your community music dispensary. If only our dashing young man had known that from the start…

http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine