Florence is UK singer Florence Welch, and the Machine is whoever is backing her up. The name started as a joke, but, in the three years since Welch and her friend Isabella Summers first performed as Florence Robot Is a Machine, the full-fledged band now known as Florence + the Machine has become a serious force. Shortly after its June 2009 release in England, the group's debut album, Lungs, peaked at number two on the UK charts. Now it has landed on US shores. That the British would swoon over Lungs is not surprising. Welch possesses a supple, rangy, and expressive voice that allows her entrance into the Winehouse-Duffy-Adele realm of Dusty Springfield revivalists. Musically, however, she distances herself from that crowd by laying her soulful vocals over art-pop soundscapes that nod to Kate Bush and Eurythmics. Now, clearly, all of these musical reference points have also enjoyed chart success in America. So, Florence + the Machine's future in the Western hemisphere looks bright. On the merits of Lungs, Florence Welch and her band should at least receive their share of accolades. This is a powerful and mature album that also twinkles and thrums with the exuberance of youthful exploration. The pinnacle of the record occurs midway through, with "Drumming," a song about the power of another to drive one mad with "a drumming noise inside my head," which even deafening church bells and submersion in a river can't block out. The (of course) drum-heavy song evokes Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love," Peter Gabriel's "The Rhythm of the Heat," and contemporary act St. Vincent. "Howl" is its counterpart, built of rolling toms, plinking keys, sweeping string washes, and big, soulful vocals from Florence, evoking a melding of Annie Lennox and Sarah McLachlan that's more than the sum of those parts. Far from being one-dimensional, though, Florence + the Machine get into garage rock mode on "Kiss with a Fist." Barely two minutes long and buzzing with guitars, the track's playful tone and sassy delivery is contrasted by a domestic dispute that culminates in the burning of a bed. That cut is followed by the transitional "Girl with One Eye," a naked, post-punky torch song. On the other end of Lungs's sonic spectrum is the harp and piano-based "My Boy Builds Coffins," one of several songs on the record reminiscent of the work of Happy Rhodes, an art-pop singer from Poughkeepsie whose brooding, synth-heavy music and Renaissance-informed artistic temperament is a part of Florence Welch's musical lineage, whether she knows it or not. The album's lone cover tune is closing track "You've Got the Love," originally a late '80s dance song combining a house instrumental track with vocals that gospel singer Candi Staton had recorded for a documentary. These genres, too, inform the sounds of Lungs. While it can be informative to tease out these influences, what's remarkable about Florence + the Machine is how Welch and her cohorts layer these elements to create an original sound. In the post-modern music world, this is no small accomplishment. Moreover, they write really good songs. Familiar yet fresh, moody and catchy, Lungs is a perfect balance of art and pop. America, are you listening? Recommended Tracks: "Drumming," "Kiss with a Fist," "Howl" -Michael Keefe