Artiste: Florence and the Machine
For God’ sake Florence, please put a sock in it!” Florence Welch’s advertising industry dad and art-historian mum have chronicled the challenges of
dealing with a powerhouse like her. Diagnosed with dyslexia, dysmetria and self-diagnosed with OCD and ADD — Florence or the Daffy Diva as she was called at home, was raised on REM, the Smiths, Syd Barrett and Jefferson Airplane amongst others.
At age 13, at her grandfather (deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph) Colin Welch’s funeral she sang a challenging Gilbert and Sullivan tribute before a host of Fleet Street biggies. She then bounced from band to band including one called Ashok, finally settling on performing alone and filling in the instrumentation with a floating consortium called The Machine.
Her debut album, Lungs went to No. 1 on the UK charts this January. The debut single from the album, a violent, sexy, harsh look at real love — Kiss with a Fist — features in the soundtrack to the film Jennifer’s Body. Florence and the Machine are a heady combination of ‘where have I heard that before’, mega-watt vocals and dark to the depths lyrics but if you want an easy first hit of her talent though, check out the Brit 2010 performance with Dizzee Rascal of You Got the Dirtee Love.
Florence herself says, “I want my music to sound like throwing yourself out of a tree, or off a tall building, or as if you’re being sucked down into the ocean and you can’t breathe.” She gets that right — in the best way possible.
Genesia alves