Hailing from South London, Florence + the Machine fuse Baroque pop, pastoral folk, and inventive alternative rock into an energizing style first unveiled on the 2009 album Lungs. Fronted by Florence Welch and Isabella “Machine” Summers, the ensemble reached broad audiences through the platinum-certified singles “Dog Days Are Over,” “You’ve Got the Love,” and “Shake It Out,” all buoyed by Welch’s commanding voice. While the band’s opening three projects reached the summit of the U.K. charts, they advanced gradually in the United States, attaining number six on the Billboard 200 with 2011’s Ceremonials. In 2015 they claimed their initial Billboard number-one position with How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, an international success that also led to a headline slot at the Glastonbury Festival. The group returned to the global Top Five with 2018’s High as Hope, then issued the non-album tracks “Jenny of Oldstones” in 2019 and “Light of Love” in 2020 before delivering the choreomania-inspired Dance Fever in 2022.
Welch and Summers assembled the project in 2007; their first release, “Kiss with a Fist,” appeared on Moshi Moshi in June 2008. After expanding to a full ensemble, the musicians joined Island Records that November. Their widely praised debut, Lungs, arrived in July 2009 and rapidly ranked among the year’s strongest U.K. sellers, placing four Top 40 singles on the chart within a year. Momentum built elsewhere as well, especially in America, where the uplifting “Dog Days Are Over” climbed to number 21 and earned platinum status. A two-disc reissue titled Between Two Lungs followed in 2010, appending live cuts, remixes by the Horrors and Yeasayer, and the Twilight soundtrack song “Heavy in Your Arms.”
In 2010 the band entered the studio with producer Paul Epworth, known for work with Bloc Party and Adele, to shape their sophomore effort. Ceremonials, which broadened the group’s already expansive sound, reached stores on Halloween 2011. Alongside the lead single “Shake It Out,” the chart-topping collection featured “No Light, No Light” and the Australian multi-platinum Top Three single “Never Let Me Go.”
The next year brought both CD and DVD editions of MTV Unplugged, an 11-song recording captured before a modest studio crowd and containing audience favorites plus two covers—“Try a Little Tenderness” and the Johnny Cash/June Carter standard “Jackson,” the latter featuring guest vocals from Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. Welch also declared a temporary hiatus during which the musicians prepared their subsequent album; she additionally scored a chart-topping dance single, “Sweet Nothing,” alongside Scottish producer Calvin Harris.
The Markus Dravs-produced How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful appeared in May 2015. Nominated for five Grammy Awards, it became the band’s third consecutive U.K. number-one album while also leading charts in Australia, the United States, and throughout Europe. A year-long world tour and the short film The Odyssey carried promotion into 2016.
High as Hope, the fourth studio album, arrived in 2018. Produced by Welch and Emile Haynie, it contained the singles “Sky Full of Song,” “Big God,” and “Hunger” and entered the Top Three in multiple territories. While touring, Welch released “Moderation” and “Jenny of Oldstones,” the latter featured in the final season of Game of Thrones and achieving modest chart placement.
“Light of Love” followed in April 2020 as a charity single benefiting Britain’s Intensive Care Society amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Welch also contributed “Call Me Cruella” to the soundtrack of Disney’s 2021 live-action film Cruella.
The Jack Antonoff-co-produced “King” surfaced in February 2022 as the opening single from the fifth studio album, Dance Fever. Antonoff collaborated with Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley and Kid Harpoon on the anthemic, restorative record, which further included the urgent singles “Free” and “My Love.” Issued that May, Dance Fever topped the U.K. Albums chart as well as Billboard’s Top Rock and Alternative charts and reached number seven on the Billboard 200.
