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Review submitted by Dominic Morgan

It may be less than a year old but Lungs by Florence and the Machine is already a classic album. Its ethereal, eloquent beauty takes you on an emotional odyssey which is in equal part powerful, tender, playful and haunting. Like an epic fairytale from a world beyond ours, this ode to love, loss, myth and fantasy is played out with a depth of emotion that rivals anything that has come before it. Florence's vocal and lyrical range allows her to skip effortlessly from the small to the epic on a range of subjects: from the minutiae of a love affair (the breath shared between two sleeping lovers on Between Two Lungs) she bursts into an epic celebration of the heights to which one can soar on the back of love. Equally her description of despair scales a similar magnitude: on Cosmic Love she appeals to the universe as a fitting metaphor for the darkness experienced over the loss of a lover ("The moon, the stars, they have all been blown out"). Her lyrics contain an poetic imagery which are delivered so truthfully and powerfully that one cannot helped but to feel the weight of the loss or the intensity of the joy of which she sings.

The production on the album is intricate, layered and sumptuous. Paul Epworth, Steve Mackey and James Ford have created an incandescent backdrop against which Florence's lyrics become even more evocative. The synergy between the music and vocals radiates an emotional truth that so many artists strive for but never quite achieve. However fantastical Florence's flights of fancy are we believe the feeling behind them and we live it with her as we are lead through the sublime galaxy of emotions she has so effortlessly created. Very rarely does a record move me this much (I still find it hard to hold back my tears on the tube) and, although almost every song is exceptional, it is very much an album to listen to as a whole, as it has that magical quality of being something which is greater than the sum of its parts.

With Lungs, Florence Welch has shown a talent that is tantamount to genius. This work could easily sit alongside any offering from Kate Bush, PJ Harvey or Alison Goldfrapp and it cements her status as the most exciting and innovative female artist to emerge from Britain in recent years.