South London’s Florence Welch, 22, of Florence and the Machine has been making waves from across the pond for a while now. Last June, she chummed the waters by releasing her first single, ‘Kiss With A Fist,’ on Moshi Moshi Records (former label of Hot Chip and Kate Nash) and instigated an A&R feeding frenzy in the process. Next, in November, she splashed around with a journalist from The Guardian, who went on to sing her praises in the paper. Then, earlier this month, the hype surrounding her rose to flood threatening levels when she won the highly coveted Critics’ Choice Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards (Adele won last year). And all the while Feist, with her indie pop princess crown in jeopardy, has been crying herself to sleep at night singing: “One, two, three, four. Itunes still loves me more.”

Whether or not Flo’s ship sinks in the maelstrom of hype surrounding her or sails gloriously into our hearts and earphones will be determined in May when her debut album, which she has jokingly (or not) threatened to name ‘Fuck the Cake, Take the Ice Cream and I Think I Just Punched the Waiter,’ is released. When asked how the recording process is going, Florence answered, “It’s sort of sounding like a choir, a harp, some metal chains and a piano all put through a car crusher, then hit with wooden planks really hard.” I’m not entirely sure what that means, but, luckily, Florence’s second single, ‘Dog Days Are Over,’ speaks louder than her words. So, give it a listen. Witness her high flying voice swing sinuously amongst soul, pop, and the rafters. Feel your head bob, nod, and – no, that wasn’t a neck spasm, but I thought so at first, too– bang.

credit: Karen McBride

Florence and the Machine on MySpace