Florence And The Machine

While prone to wearing flashy, theatrical attire on stage, fiery singer Florence Welch of the raucous Florence And The Machine has shown little in common musically with most of the impudent soul divas infesting the British isles. With aggressively dynamic arrangements backing her, Welch’s vocals on the jaunty “Dog Days Are Over” and “Kiss With A Fist,” from 2009’s fantastic Lungs, recall the similarly scrappy Ida Maria, while also bearing the influence of Björk, Kate Bush, and Tori Amos in her bluesy wail. The group’s latest record,Ceremonials, is somehow even more dramatic than its predecessor, lurching and loping through all manner of emotive material, including the excellently anthemic first single, “Shake It Out.” 

Updated 11/21/2011