Florence + the Machine

Florence + the Machine’s grand art pop cuts straight to the essence of raw emotion—no matter how bruised and bloody the result. The London band’s 2009 debut album, Lungs, came stacked with rousing anthems like “Kiss With a Fist” and “Dog Days Are Over”, all propelled by pounding rhythms and orchestral strings. Namesake singer-songwriter Florence Welch possesses a bewitching voice akin to a powerful siren wail that’s fuelled by a deep desire for catharsis. “With songwriting, I really like to embody the things I was afraid of as a child. I like to kind of embody that voice,” Welch explained to Apple Music. “It’s like an exorcism almost.” That passion for delving into the darker outskirts of the mind infuses everything the group does, including the 2016 short film The Odyssey, whose Dante-inspired scenes are strung together with heartache-drenched songs from 2015’s How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. Braveness dictates not only Welch’s lyrics—which hit on topics as taboo as suicide and self-destruction (“The End of Love”) and as profound as simply letting go (the Grammy-nominated “Shake It Out”)—but also the outfit’s willingness to evolve. The 2022 full-length Dance Fever dabbles in ecstatic electro and Kate Bush-calibre gothic grandeur, while a 2024 cover of Vera Lynn’s 1941 song “White Cliffs Of Dover” exudes genteel throwback glam.