Florence Welch Covers ‘NYLON’, Talks New Album

Robbie Daw | May 23, 2011 9:14 am

Rejoice, Lungs fans — haunting vocalist Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine has been banging away at tunes for her second LP with producer Paul Epworth (“Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”). “A lot of the songs on the new album are about imaginary things, things that you can’t touch — ghosts and rumors, my dead grandmother, things visiting you in a dream,” Welch says in NYLON‘s upcoming music issue (out May 31, notes MTV). “It’s almost like I am taking the Oscars and all those amazing events and turning them into something that brings you back to your reality.” Florence, who appears decked out in some cool, breezy fashions for the mag’s spread on her, elaborated on her new music further. “It still feels like I’m very much drawn to dark metaphors in the new songs,” Welch said. “It always feels like as if with each song you write, you’re trying to understand something about yourself: Why am I this way? What’s wrong with me? It feels as if there’s still a lot of questioning left to do.”

Producer Epworth currently has the #1 song in the country via Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep.” He also chimed in on FATM’s upcoming material:

“I think the last four tracks we did for the next album is some of my best work eve. The new record is much more coherent. It’s more bombastic, kind of an Animal Collective, Kate Bush, super-heavy rock kind of thing. It could only be Florence. She’s found a new backdrop against which to set her tales of unrequited love and devils and Tim Burton-esque romantic stories. She’s more relaxed, more level. This time, it’s more about the battle between her head and her heart and that transition everyone goes through in their mid-twenties, where you let go of the chaos of your youth. I think she’s ready to take on the world with this record.”

We definitely feel that Florence is one of the best artists to emerge in the past three years. (We’re pretty sure Beyonce concurs.) And the fact that the crimson-haired songstress crossed over here in the States makes her success seem all the sweeter.

Are you excited about Flo’s sophomore album?