Dog's Teeth Sink In
4 Out Of 5 Stars
I am all for earth-mamas getting their Kate Bush on, and "Lungs" is one of the better efforts in that style. Florence Welch has the kind of power Neko Case delivers, along with the mystical feel sometimes displayed by Lilith Faire types like Sarah McLaughlin. And like Kate Bush or Sinéad O'Connor, there are those indescribable moments that quirk "Lungs" into areas you wouldn't expect it to go.
The initial attraction has been "Dog Days are Over," a forceful declaration of emancipation that has a universal resonance to it. With Welch's booming voice raging atop a aggressive track, "Dog Days" is pretty near irresistible. Yet there's no way that the single prepares you for the strangely punky "Kiss With a Fist" or the booming blues mayhem of "Girl With One Eye." Welch sings everything with a flamethrower intensity that sometimes makes the album a bit too monochromatic vocally, but when you get her snarling out a lyric (from "Hurricane Drunk") that goes "I'm going out, I'm gonna drink myself to death" or she tones the firepower down a touch on "Between Two Lungs," you get the feeling that Florence and The Machine might have some staying power.
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