Florence Welch knows she has written a hit song when it sounds like a "prayer" to her.
The Florence + the Machine singer is always confident she has created a track that will resonate with people when she can recount it like a religious offering or a "spell".
In an interview with the Evening Standard Magazine, she said: "I always know a song is working when I sing it to myself outside the studio. It keeps you company a little bit. It’s like a prayer you can say to yourself, or like a spell."
When writing the band’s new album ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’, the 28-year-old musician quit drinking alcohol to avoid her self-destructive tendencies and ensure she was fully focused on the LP.
Florence – who previously admitted she had "a bit of a nervous breakdown" during her year off from the band over 2012 and 2013 -revealed: "I am very prone to pressing the kamikaze button when things fall apart and drinking too much, but I had to start making this record and I thought, ‘I don’t want to break this as well.’
"I was writing a prep talk to myself, almost. I like to hide behind reverb and a lot of backing vocals but producer Markus (Dravs) pushed my vocals forward and was quite adamant about it. It’s another layer of taking down your defences and I was scared."
Florence Welch’s songs are like prayers
