Interview: Florence and the Machine Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:43:16

Florence and the Machine makes a musical wonderland out of Lungs.

Since its release last year, the album has been enchanting and entrancing listeners everywhere. It's also filtered through the public consciousness with high profile placements for "Dog Days Are Over," including the Eat Pray Love trailer and numerous TV shows. The record has had such a profound impact on everyone because it really is unlike anything else out there. Florence can make a somber story beautiful on the dreamy "My Boy Build Coffins," or she can punch with the punk-y "Kiss With a Fist." However, everything swirls around in the context of the most wistful and wonderful sonic journey in recent memory. And, the record certainly is a journey that Florence is happy to be the guide for…

Florence sat down with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino for an exclusive interview. Florence delves deep into her creative process, "My Boy Builds Coffins," re-reading Lolita and her intense new music.

Is summoning visuals through song integral to your process? 

Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love

Florence and the Machine interview: sound and vision

Kate Bush meets Aretha Franklin in the form of Florence Welch, the art-school pop eccentric behind the critics’ favourite new band, Florence and the Machine.

As the light begins to fade in Painshill Park in Surrey, a flower-strewn coffin containing a pale-faced, auburn-haired girl gracefully drifts out on to the lake. The girl in this scene of pre-Raphaelite beauty is Florence Welch, and this is the climax of a 15-hour video shoot for Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), the new single by her band, Florence and the Machine. There are 52 people on set, including a choreographer and a food stylist. For Welch, whose previous video, Dog Days Are Over, was shot with a single camera, a bunch of friends and some bunting on Sydenham Hill in south London, it all seems a little unreal. 'To go from a couple of plastic bags of hummus and carrots to having a catering van, I was just thinking, "Woah",' she says.

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Florence + The Machine

Biography

Florence + The Machine formed in 2007 in London, England. The band is the recording name of singer/songwriter Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide backing music for her; Florence Welch is the band’s only constant member. The current touring lineup of the band is Florence Welch (vocals), Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Isabella Summers (keyboards), Tom Monger (harp), Mark Saunders (bass), Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums).

Florence is an art-college dropout from Camberwell, London, who was discovered singing Motown covers in a nightclub toilet, drunk. Musically Florence and the Machine’s sound is generally referred to as soul inspired indie rock.