Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Florence and the Machine: St Jude
There's an enormous amount of wrought emotion on this album which sounds like a collection of sometimes obsessively self-centred songs about heartbreak ,but Florence has the lungs, powerful vibrato and melodies to carry it all off . . . right through to the quasi-gospel Mother at the end.
In a world of somewhat wussy female singers whose default position is mope-folk or moaning alt.country, Florence comes off as a woman not a girl, has some fury and rage she's happy to belt out, and manages to wrap it all up in songs which have that key ingredient in pop-rock: They are memorable.
She's in that lineage of Genya Ravan, Siouxsie and Pauline Murray on to PJ Harvey and Sinead, and pulls up short of Adele by spinning her wheels in rock rather than overt soul.
Lyrically -- and there is a lyric booklet which is helpful -- she's at once all over the place but grounded in her self.
And the reason for telling you this about an album that is a few months old?
It is one of the two-for-$20 deals at JB Hi-Fi stores (here) right now and we've already addressed quite a number of the worthwhile gems to pick up as part of that good deal.
Check them out.
post a comment