"RABBIT HEART (RAISE IT UP)" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2009)

I generally gravitate to the music first before the lyrics. But as a writer, I still marvel at well-spun verses and choruses. This month, I’m joining the music Twitter community in #SeptSongLyricChallenge

Day 8

The vocal performance, tempo shifts and slippery meanderings of the harp make “Rabbit Heart” one of my all-time favorite Florence anthems. Florence stormed onto the scene in a hurry with one of the best debut albums in years. “Rabbit Heart” was one of many tracks that made Lungs the amazing album it is, but it was the one song that gave us a peek into Florence’s mindset amidst the band’s newfound success. The words are equally imaginative and personal.

“This is a gift. It comes with a price. Who is the lamb and who is the knife? Midas is king and he holds me so tight. And turns me to gold in the sunlight.”

"COSMIC LOVE" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2009)

Each day in December, I’ll be reflecting back on a song from the 2000’s. The decade saw the return of post-punk and the popularization of folk music, all while some of music’s biggest acts gained their indie footing. Thankfully, it’s a period that I can look back at fondly without cringing. #31DaysOf2000sSongs

When Florence first came onto the scene her sound was so incredibly polished, confident and distinct it felt like she had already been at it for years. Just look at Lungs, probably one of the greatest debut records of all time, greatness that most artists hope to achieve even just once in their career. For me, that greatness all starts with Florence’s voice. No one else sounds like her. She cites Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks and Siouxsie Sioux as influences, but she has her own unique sound. She sings like a siren, howling with this incredible ferocity one moment and singing laser-sharp falsetto interludes effortlessly in another. There isn’t a mediocre track on Lungs, but one of the strongest, in my opinion, is “Cosmic Love”.

When I play it, I feel like I have left this universe. Florence + The Machine was one of the first acts to pioneer the use of the harp in rock — and on “Cosmic Love” the angelic stringed instrument delivers these gorgeous treble notes from the heavens. It’s enough to transport you. But Florence’s vocals took us even further, soaring and swirling its way through space. The music was otherworldly, the melody was divine and the lyrics were transcendent.

“I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map. And knew that somehow I could find my way back.”

"SOUTH LONDON FOREVER" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2018)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Four albums in, High as Hope was wiser. More reflective. More versatile. But still Florence through and through. The singing on the entire recording is exceptional, as Florence’s vocals only got better. And many of the songs on the album have an epic feel, each of them demonstrating a storytelling genius akin to Kate Bush’s catalog. One of my favorites is “South London Forever”.

It’s a song of tension. From prose to poetry. From whispering verse to powerful rant. From slow to fast, back to slow, back to fast again. “South London Forever” combines the spunk of her early recordings with a more mature voice and perspective. This underrated song — and the album at large — are helping Florence to live up to — and even exceed — those lofty Kate Bush comparisons.

“But everything I ever did was just another way to scream your name.”

"SHIP TO WRECK" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2015)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

After Ceremonials, four years passed without another Florence album. So when How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful made its way into the world, there were enormous expectations. And in my mind, the album overdelivered. It was not only better than Ceremonials, it was wiser. More mature. It was still distinctly Florence, but there was an evolution of her sound and approach without any doubt. And “Ship to Wreck” showed that she was becoming increasingly open to singing about her personal demons.

It’s a perfect opening track in many ways. We had waited so long for this, so on “Ship to Wreck” Florence wasted no time and got right to it. It starts off at full speed, barreling through to an opening verse about how we sometimes end up destroying the things we love the most. The irony of it all is that this song about self-destructive behavior is very much a vessel that Florence used to build up her influence in the music world.

“My love remind me, what was it that I said? I can't help but pull the earth around me to make my bed. And, my love remind me, what was it that I did?”

"NO LIGHT, NO LIGHT" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2011)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Rock is rough. Rock is personal. Rock is emotional. “No Light, No Light” exhibits all of these things. There’s nothing delicate about it. In it Florence hits on themes that seem so core to the human condition, yet it’s a little surprising that no other artist has been able to articulate it as clearly and poignantly as her.

While Ceremonials isn’t one of my favorite Florence albums, it contains at least four or five of my favorite songs from the artist. What’s particularly impressive about “No Light, No Light” is the level of versatility and creativity from a then relatively young artist. One moment, she’s unleashing angst-ridden wailing, the next moment she’s barely whispering to us. Florence and music partner Isabella Summers concocted a melody and words that are easy to ingest. At a Florence show you’ll belt every single word, and then the very next day you’ll find that they’re all still there inside your head.

“It's so easy to sing it to a crowd. But it's so hard, my love, to say it to you, all alone.”

"COSMIC LOVE" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2009)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Some music acts take a couple of albums to get going. Some start strong, but fizzle out just as quickly. Then there are a select few that begin with an overly impressive debut and only keep getting better. Florence + the Machine is one of the few acts that have been able to accomplish this impressive feat. Lungs isn’t just a superb debut album, it’s one of the greatest albums of the 2000s period. And “Cosmic Love” is arguably the best track on the LP.

Florence was one of the first acts to pioneer the use of the harp in indie rock — and “Cosmic Love” is a shining example. The harp ended up being the perfect instrumental choice. They’re like treble notes from the heavens. There’s a swagger and confidence in Florence’s vocals in this song — and throughout Lungs — that’s almost unfathomable for a debut recording. But as my #RockBlock series on Florence continues, we're reminded this is only the beginning.

“I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map, and knew that somehow I could find my way back.”

"WHAT KIND OF MAN" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2015)

For Women’s History Month, I’m selecting some of my favorite songs from some of the most talented and influential women in music. From frontwomen to singer-songwriters to iconic performers, I’m picking one song a day on Mental Jukebox until the end of March.

“Tour de force” is a phrase that gets tossed around a little too easily in music. But it’s not a bad way to describe “What Kind of Man”. The song starts off in a whisper before launching headlong into a vocal rampage, the kind music fans have come to adore about Florence. And gone were the synths and harp. This was the band’s coming out party for powerful guitar riffs and an unrelenting percussion barrage.

“And with one kiss you inspired a fire of devotion that lasts for twenty years. What kind of man loves like this?”

"QUEEN OF PEACE" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2015)

Ferocity. Emotion. Grandeur. These are some of the qualities that I love about Florence. And they all come together on “Queen of Peace”, one of my favorite tracks from How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. It’s a song that switches gears two times—once from the string arrangement prelude to the fierceness of the opening verse. Then up another notch to the emotional rampage of the chorus. It’s one of the most powerful songs from one of the most powerful artists of the last decade.

“Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill, I will conquer. Blood is running deep. Some things never sleep.”

"RABBIT HEART (RAISE IT UP)" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2009)

The vocal performance, tempo shifts and slippery meanderings of the harp make “Rabbit Heart” one of my all-time favorite Florence anthems. The band stormed onto the scene in a hurry with one of the best debut albums in years. “Rabbit Heart” was one of many tracks that made Lungs the amazing album it is, but it was the one song that gave us a peek into Florence’s mindset amidst the band’s newfound success.

“The looking glass so shiny and new. How quickly the glamor fades. I start spinning slipping out of time. Was that the wrong pill to take?”

"HUNGER" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2018)

Still rocking. Still doing it her way. But “Hunger” feels like a milestone. A checkpoint in Florence’s evolution as an artist. This is still distinctly Florence. Symbolic lyrics leave you deciding to interpret the song literally or figuratively. And you wouldn’t be wrong either way. But now here’s a Florence that pits downward despair with upbeat musicality. Reminds me of that little trick Morrissey has made a career out of.

“Oh, you and all your vibrant youth. How could anything bad ever happen to you? You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment I forget to worry.”