Album Review: Ellie Goulding - Lights
- Written by Danny Wadeson
Ellie Goulding and Marina Diamandis have three things only in common; they’re both originally from Wales, they’re both female, they’ve both very recently released seriously hyped up debuts on major labels. Do we have room for a second pop princess if at all?
Ellie Goulding certainly has come a long way, for better or for worse, since her first folky singer/writer demos surfaced on her MySpace sometime in late 2008. Now she’s backed up by Fin Dow-Smith a.k.a. Starsmith, the producer that effectively makes Lights a collaborative effort. Her signature sound has morphed from quirky covers of Bon Iver songs into electro-pop dancefloor fillers; massive regression many would say, and to no argument from those singing along and dancing around like idiots.
‘Guns and Horses’ is actually a very strong opening gambit. Showcasing her vibrato-mad voice to good effect, and backed up by a hyper-pop chorus, it’s a fitting statement of intent, if not ambition. Followed by the endlessly remixed ‘Starry Eyed’, it’s definitely safe to say that if you don’t dig her style immediately you certainly won’t have your preconceptions challenged by the close. That said, ‘Starry Eyed’ has done so many rounds of the blogging circuit for good reason; it’s another heavy dosage of vocal hooks seemingly written for your very own teenage bedroom club night.
Inevitably slow track three is somewhat wanting for new dynamics and cements the notion that she is about as subtle as her gauche album cover. At first this might sound damning but, conversely, perhaps she’s simply had a good listen to her contemporary multitude of incredibly talented female singer/song writers and decided to stick with what she knows best. It’s not tongue-in-cheek, it’s not ironic, then again at least it’s not pretentious. When It’s also so bloody catchy it’s hard to naysay it too much.
Ultimately, Lights is a strong debut from a young female artist who, again like Marina, occasionally suffers from trying to reconcile mainstream accessibility with alternative appeal. Despite the uncomfortably high quotient of emo song titles and piano led chord progressions, there is no denying that Ellie Goulding has a superb voice which can only mature, a nous for (albeit cheesy) songwriting which one hopes will be tempered with experience, and if nothing else an obvious aversion to selling her sex over her songcraft.