100 Greatest Songs of the 00’s #37 Florence + The Machine Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

Released: 2009

Florence Welch was an enigma, but not as musicians go exactly a new one. Profiled by The Independent’s Tim Walker in 2009 shortly before the release of her debut album Lungs, her transformation from the awkward, gawky wallflower type which had debuted with Kiss With A Fist the year before had resulted in an image that he posited was “one-part vengeful woodland spirit, one-part pre-Raphaelite damsel.”

Less sophisticated, but similarly confused character sketches had been made for the likes of Kate Bush and Patti Smith over the years, women who emanated power but refused to employ it in orthodox ways. For Welch the fall back was a voice which was name-your-deity given, one rich in power, soul, mischief and humanity. In a contemporary world of skinny jeaned metropolitan know it alls, she was a beacon for those who wanted to feel there was still something new to discover.

Lungs was a revelation, freewheeling folk on cosmic steroids. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) sounded like Joanna Newsom covering The Supremes, a joyous rush of adrenaline that had welled up from the mind of a reanimated Lewis Carroll. “This is a gift, it comes with a price/ Who is the lamb and who is the knife?” she bawled, as if it was the most natural question in the world. As each chorus soared higher, the questions became the answer until both ceased to matter and it all felt completely natural. Enigmas can do that. That is after all, why they’re an enigma.