GOT ME LUNGS

I finally got Florence's Lungs on Friday and since getting it I am completely and utterly addicted. It's pure GENIUS!

For a start Florence has to be one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever set my eyes upon, but in terms of the album itself it's, I dunno, like one huge forest of emotions. The whole sense of emotion is pretty much down to Florence's voice...BLIMEY; it can go from being a shrieking howling thunderstorm in one moment to a gentle breeze in another, it's pretty much a revelation. However, although Florence's pure soulful voice is the core of this mighty album, the lush arrangements behind her simply lift the tracks even further to an almost godly level...yes the album is THAT good!

Now, I can't really be bothered to do the whole track by track shebang but I will pick 5 of the albums absolute killers:

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up): Mythical, ethereal, spiritual, beautiful. WOW. This track has a fantastic pounding soulful chorus but at the same time has a huge sense of vulnerability to it. I also love the whole impending doom vibe it's really great stuff.

Between Two Lungs: Strangely heavenly. This track has a great anthemic build up and it really just kind of explodes towards the end. How Florence makes human lungs seem so poetic I'll never know.

Cosmic Love: Literally one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Starts with woozy harp sounds and then explodes into a thunderous heartfelt story of how Florence has been "left in the dark". EPIC.

Blinding: Really quite dark and sinister. As noted by one of my friends, this track really wouldn't be out of place on a Bat For Lashes album...it's seriously heavy stuff...but that gives it its charm, it also has the line "Snow White stitching up your circuit board" which is very WTF basically adding to the tracks brilliance.

Falling: I remember Florence doing this track when I saw her at the NME Awards Tour and I was literally blown away by it and thankfully it remains just as amazing on CD. It's really luscious and powerful and restrained and anyone reading this should seriously consider getting the deluxe edition just for this track!

So there we have it...Lungs is a modern day masterpiece.

★★★★★