Pitchfork

Young Florence has a voice. There are a lot of voices around. Reliable, old-guard voices like PJ and Cat as well as quirky new voices like Joanna and Marissa. Florence is perhaps closer to the smoky, confident intonation of a Scout Niblett than the cuckolded charm of Ms. Newsom, but it is in her voice's unique ability to carve a little niche for itself that lays her power to captivate. It strikes notes, fails to waver in pitch, and has an ability to catch a fleeting melody with a deftness that makes you want to whistle and jump.

Barely in her twenties and skipping out on a Fine Art degree at South London's Camberwell College (where she used to make paper men trapped in jars accompanied by reasons why they were inside their glassy coffins, as well as a scary-sounding guy called Redman who lived in a cereal box), Florence's "Machine" is merely the band that makes the music behind her. On occasion she has performed solo and has a tendency to a cappella along to her own self, but of late she has been accompanied by former Test Icicle and current Lightspeed Champion Dev Hynes, although this particular track, a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. hit "I'm Goin' Down", finds her dueting with the singer-songwriter Kid Harpoon. Beware! A voice to captivate indeed...