Inside Music with Melinda Newman

Florence + the Machine plot April studio return for next album after Academy Awards appearance

British band may book Abbey Road for 'Lungs' follow up

By Melinda Newman Friday, Feb 18, 2011 4:00 PM

Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Florence + the Machine will likely enter the studio in April to record the follow-up to its 2009 breakthrough set, “Lungs.”

The band’s Rob Ackroyd tells gibson.com, “the second album has begun with Paul Epworth and there is talk of booking out Abbey Road for a month in April/May to record.”

Epworth most recently worked on Adele’s new album, “21,” which drops on Tuesday (Feb. 22).

The band has a short window to record: Welch is filling in for a pregnant Dido at the Feb. 27 Academy Awards and will since “If I Rise” from “127 Hours.” (read our interview with Dido here). Later that night, the band will be the musical guest at Elton John’s annual Oscar party. After heading into the studio, Florence + the Machine will open for U2 for the month of June in North America.

In a funny note, Ackroyd says that while he and Florence + the Machine’s lead singer Florence Welch have many intersecting musical tastes, they definitely don’t overlap in one area: “she’s also a big fan of unadulterated pop music, which cuts through me like a knife...in terms of our own music, though, we are perfectly matched.”