Ellie Goulding : 'Lights'
Released: Out Now!!!
Label: Polydor
Well, it’s only just turned March and there have already been some fantastic releases this year (see the Toro Y Moi record for this) and, I’m sure, numerous atrocities to the ears. This, however, is the one that everyone has been waiting for. Speculation has been rife for over a year now, ever since demos of tracks such as “Starry Eyed” burst onto the internet little more than a year ago as to how the album would sound. Would she be able to live up to the pop perfection of tracks like the aforementioned “Starry Eyed”? Since then she has been in the studio with musical luminaries such as Burial, but has always felt more comfortable with term collaborator Finn (AKA Starsmith) who has produced all bar two tracks on “Lights”. Obviously collaborations like this, the industry hype and the media frenzy after her Brit and NME awards around the release of the record was always going to result in the album being not only just a great record but a groundbreaking one too, were it to live up to the hype that has surrounded Ellie and her music.
As it is, of course it doesn’t. But then, why would anyone have expected it to be an astonishingly innovative piece? Blending folky pop songs is hardly new in itself, as artists such as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. have been doing just that for years and are hardly the first to do so. The sad truth of the matter is that “Starry Eyed”, despite wowing bloggers across the board, is simply a charming brilliant pop song. That’s it, just a great pop tune rather than the invention of pop penicillin. But why should that any of this take away from the album itself? Well, it shouldn’t and potentially disappointing reviews seem to stem from old hacks who, once again, failed to see around the hype for what the artist really was. Admittedly, I was a little worried myself hearing a promotional copy of “Wish I Stayed” with all the electronics stripped back, leaving it acoustic and lacking in the warmth that the electronic blend provides. Happily, it was a needless fear as the album version is drenched in just those.
The old demos (Guns And Horses, Starry Eyed, Wish I Stayed) all sound fantastic having been produced up to a serious level. Which, of course, was a little strange at first when one is used to the fuzzy charm of the bedroom demos but, in all honesty, I really should have seen that coming. The first new track we come across on “Lights” is “This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)” which is a floaty light opening (maybe it's the musical equivalent of a quaver?) with a big chorus. The sort that will stick in your head for a long old time. “Under The Sheets” sounds just as it did when Neon Gold put t out on 7” recently and is probably one of the finest moments on the record. The next new track, “The Writer” is definitely stronger than “This Love…” with it’s piano lead and more appealing verse on top of the rousing chorus hooks. Seriously, this chorus has “huge hit” written all over it. “Every Time You Go” is more than filler but to me has a slight whiff of stopgap between tracks, so on to “Your Biggest Mistake” which I think will always remind me of Test Icicles rabble rousing indie electronics. Here however we are treated one of my favourite moments on the record, with soaring electronics and swooping disco-esque synths weaving around Ellie’s vocals and another fantastic chorus, just for good measure. While a decent pop song in it’s own right it comes across, slightly, as “Starry Eyed’s” slightly weak younger sibling, but “Salt Skin" may just be the finest moment on the record and follows straight after so no matter. All sweeping synths and soft and melodius bleeps and a bubbling, almost water-through-a-brook-like, loop filters through from time to time in the background. All in all, so blissful it could be featured on “Moon Safari” (an Air album, probably the only really good one).
Lights, then, still sparkles as a lovely pop album, just not quite as brightly as some expected.
Words: James Hoste
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