Florence and the Machine Strip Down for Sessions -- Exclusive Video

Florence Welch's voice is a true force of nature. Hearing it on a Florence and the Machine record is one thing, but being in the same room with her while she's belting out her hits almost makes you physically feel her vocals. And it's even more of a stark experience when she does it over acoustic instrumentation, like she did for a special Sessions taping at our New York studio. After her performance, which included tracks from her new album 'Ceremonials' as well as her 2009 debut 'Lungs,' we sat down with Welch to talk about recording at Abbey Road, the sophomore slump, her favorite cocktail and why she's nearly caused a few car accidents.

'Ceremonials' seems like it's coming really soon after 'Lungs,' even though that was out in 2009. Did you decide that you wanted to do this a little more quickly?

I don't know. I feel like the album's songs have been around for such a long time, because I've been living with them for three years, and even some of the songs on the first record were written as far back when I was 17, so it feels like they've been around for ages. What was important to me was, I had a quite clear idea of the kind of sound I was going for, and I knew I wanted to be done with one producer in one place, and so in that sense it all came together quite quickly.


Watch Florence and the Machine's Full Sessions Performance
Sound-wise, what were you were trying to achieve? What did you want to do differently?

What was important was to have a more sort of cohesive, overarching sound to the whole album, something that sounded more like a whole, and I guess I was going for something that was a bit more aggressive, maybe, and like a development of the sound, but maybe in a kind of heavier way, like more drums and bass. I had these big clattering electronic drum sounds going around in my head, and huge sub-bass ideas. I wanted to take the sound I had sort of hit on in 'Lungs,' and really take it to, I don't know, the biggest point, the biggest it can go. Now it's gone so big I don't know what I'm going to do for the third, I'll have to go in completely the opposite direction.

Do you think it's more of a reflection of your personality than your first album?

I don't know. I think the first album was a reflection of me who I was from the ages of 17 to 22, and so that changes, you know, influences change you so much, and I suppose this is much more of a reflection of who I am, you know, I'm 24, in this one period in my life.

A lot of artists say their first album is more autobiographical, and the second one, if they've achieved some success, is more of like a road record. Did you find that you're writing about different topics?

Perhaps. I feel like in some ways maybe this album is a bit more introspective, and because you're traveling so much I guess it did get me to thinking about the sacrifices that that makes in your life, and home, and my childhood. So in that sense I wasn't really writing about the road, I was more writing about the way that it made me feel being away from home, and when Paul [Epworth, producer] sent me this track that had church bells on it in the beginning, these English church bells, it suddenly brought me back to being at my Grandma 's house and hearing them, and her funeral, and things like that. It was more kind of a sense of longing, I think. I always seems to be taking reality and twisting it into my own version. So I don't think I would be directly writing ... I never write about something that directly is happening, I guess. I'm always twisting it.

Not like, "Oh, I'm going to the store, and I'm buying ..."

Yeah, do you know what I mean? I don't, like [sings] "And then I got a phone call from my friend." Worst song ever! You can tell I'm a natural songwriter [laughs].

You were offered the chance to record this in America. Why did you decide against that?

I was really kind of up for it for a while. it was going to be the very start of making the record and all of a sudden I looked at it and it was like, to start the record in that way just seemed really too much, you know, because where do you come back from that? And I thought I needed to give myself a chance to just go back to South London, to where it all began and experiment some more. And, you know, we had the thought like if it comes to the end of the record and I felt that's what it needed I could go over there but to begin out there just seems so far removed from who I was, it kind of, I just was "Actually, no, I can't do this." And, you know, the way that it worked out I didn't actually end up going over, but I would never rule it out.

You recorded at Abbey Road for a while, what was that like? Are you worried about being in the place where the Beatles recorded so many of their albums and maybe breaking something?

They're pretty relaxed, actually. There was definitely some dancing I think, on certain tables at one point, but they're really nice there and the atmosphere's really amazing and it's a really friendly place to work. But it does have that certain special something, you know. I've always really enjoyed singing there and that's what made me want to record it there, there's like a feeling you get when you sing there that's quite special.

You wrote 'Shake It Out' while you were hung over. What were you drinking, and how hung over were you? Loud music doesn't seem to be a good cure for a nasty hangover.

I can't remember what I was drinking. I'm quite partial to a dirty martini, but I don't think I would have been drinking them in South London – "I would actually like an extra dirty martini, with three olives, please." I think it's a funny thing, because sometimes in that kind of state you're not really thinking in a normal way, you know? You're sort of thinking ... you're not thinking literally, you're thinking laterally. Everything's coming in quite a strange way, and it was almost as if the song appeared from nowhere. Because you're very raw, you're kind of stripped, I think, and you're quite vulnerable, and so I think maybe you're more susceptible to your subconscious in a way. And this song, just Paul played these irreverent chords, and the song just kind of came from nowhere. It was like an exorcism. Because, I guess, I was in that state of mind it started me thinking about regrets, and of patterns of behavior and wanting to kind of shake off the past. But I think the refrain at the end is very important, because it's kind of like, "What the hell?" You'll probably do it again, and it will be probably be fun. Everyone's probably been asking you about the dreaded sophomore slump. Did you even think about that while recording this?

It was really exciting for me to go in and start recording actually, because we've been on tour so much, and we literally came off touring in America, touring the first record and went straight back in the studio because things picked up here quite late, so it became like a sanctuary, you know. I'd go over to the States for a couple of weeks and I'd come back and go to Soho where the studio was, and kind of hide out. This atmosphere of Soho is so electric and, or [I'd] go to South London where all the antique markets are and it's kind of like living on a pirate ship up there. And just to go to these two favorite places after being away was really great for me. And I think the first album was so hard to make, and there was so much pressure, I don't think, there couldn't be anything like that again. So in a sense it was easier making this record.

What was difficult about the first album compared to this one?

Well, it was my first record and got that award, the Critic's Choice award, before I'd made it. So there's all this intense media scrutiny on you, and you're completely exposed but you have no protection. You're still figuring out, I'm still figuring out what sound I wanted to make. I was still figuring out, you know, how to hold yourself in the public eye, and the first tour, and all of that stuff all happens at once, and so much time spent on the floor of the studio in tears just freaking out because I put so much pressure on myself. But it was the first record so I just didn't kind of know. I was figuring it out as I went along.

Your songs are seemingly everywhere. What's the weirdest place you've heard one of your own tracks?

I'm trying to remember ... It's always funny if you go all the way out in Australia, it's really nice to hear it come on. But then, we've got a really amazing fan base in Australia. Australians are some of our biggest supporters so I guess it's not surprising. I think it is funny if you go into a vintage store and people put it on, but it really embarrasses me! I'm like, "People like this?" It feels like suddenly everyone is looking at you naked, if your song comes on. I've been known to nearly crash cars from jumping to the back seat to switch over the radio station because it freaks me out so much.