(Pre Order) Florence + The Machine/Jules Buckley and His Orchestra - Symphony of Lungs (BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall) - LP *

Release Date: March 14, 2025

Florence + The Machine joins Jules Buckley and his orchestra for a 15 year anniversary celebration of her seminal debut album Lungs live at the Royal Albert Hall.

The show received 5-star reviews across the board, praising the new arrangements and Florence Welch's commanding stage presence. "When I first heard Jules's orchestration, I cried," Welch told the audience. "This album is about feeling and I never thought anyone could add more feeling. But Jules did."

In a statement, Welch shared, "I always thought maybe I would give my first album a long title. Under Heaven Over Hell ('uh oh' for short) was one idea. But, when I thought of 'Lungs', I knew it had to be that. This album is truly an exhalation and a gasp – a cacophony of ideas and influences. For things to get so big so fast on a debut album is both an unknowable blessing and a curse. You never know if the record (or the person) will survive it."

"To be able to go back to it, 15 years and five albums later, and have it still be so loved is the most extraordinary thing. Re-imagining it with Jules Buckley and his Orchestra was an act of enormous catharsis."

The concert was an orchestral revamp of Florence +The Machine's Brit Award-winning debut album Lungs. Its wildly combustible songs were the perfect material for Jules Buckley's orchestra, who ramped up the album's gothic overtones with harpsichords, lutes and long crescendos of percussion. 'Kiss with a Fist' became a sort of witchy hoedown, 'Blinding' opened with a sinister cacophony of whispered incantations, and 'You Got the Love' made ample use of the Royal Albert Hall's 'Voice of Jupiter' pipe organ. Fifteen years after Lungs made her a star, the power of her voice and the passion of her lyrics are undimmed. I was left with just one question: Why has she never recorded a Bond theme?

SIDE C:

11. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
12. Blinding
13. Hurricane Drunk
14. Cosmic Love

SIDE D:

15. Between Two Lungs
16. Dog Days Are Over
17. Falling