Ones to Watch: Florence And The Machine

The host of Independent Music Radio introduces rising stars

A strong performance at Steve Lamacq’s stage at the SXSW festival was my personal introduction to London’s Florence Welch, whose “machine”, in that instance, turned out to be simply a rather low-key guitarist.

Yet, even given that rather more high-profile figures such as Lightspeed Champion have been known to appear in the role, the star of the show is most definitely Florence – and most specifically Florence’s voice, which combines a definite debt to the blues with an idiosyncrasy reminiscent of Björk or Kate Bush.

She’s not in that league yet, but a reported record label bidding war suggests big things are predicted.

The single ‘Kiss With A Fist’ is released by Moshi Moshi on 9 June

To listen to Independent Music Radio, visit www.independent.co.uk/radio.