Ellie Goulding, Lights

Posted by Justin on March 1st, 2010 | No Comments

The highly anticipated debut by Ellie Goulding has come forth. Lights is a folksy, electronic jamboree filled with obscure lyrics, hooks and melodies that are catchy as hell and some pretty good beats. Check out both Shan’s review and mine after the jump, including our picks for outstanding tracks.

Justin’s review:

Some of the songs, like the album opener Guns and Horses, have been out in a demo/leaked format for a while so I was anxious to see if they’d be done any differently for the album. Starry-Eyed, the second single, seems to be pretty intact as far as what I remember the track being. This Love (will be your downfall) is a groovy track with a more subdued presence that makes it all that much more standout. Then we get to the breakthrough track that made love Ellie, gosh, nearly a year ago? Under The Sheets is pop perfection – however, I still don’t know what the hell the song is about. The most grandiose track is The Writer, which works but borders on self-important in that it’s trying to just be that – the most grandiose track. We cross the halfway mark and enter into the second half of the album with Every Time You Go, which I could see as a single – but I don’t love it. Award for most experimental track is Wish I Stayed, and I enjoy it – in all its weirdness glory in terms of arrangement, delivery, lyrics, etc. It is truly unique. I was left unimpressed by Your Biggest Mistake, but it fits in nicely with the whole project. I’ll Hold My Breath is a great pop song, starting off moody and dark – I thought it was going to be another downtempo number but the chorus totally turns it around with some pop-tastic piano and synth. I enjoy this track a lot. Totally single worthy – and best lyric for ‘a sky of diamonds just for us.’ The album closes out with Salt Skin, the most ‘aggressive’ song on the album, if you can even say that. It’s good closer, uptempo and the 80s synth is good.

Overall, I enjoy this album. It’s kind of what I was hoping for with Imogen’s Ellipse. Something more organic and electronic all at the same time. My only complaint about this album is that by working with Starsmith, the tracks all sound a little too similar and it’s one of those that I literally probably will have a hard time remembering the names of some tracks because they sound alike. I applaud the lyrical and melodic effort going on. I recommend putting this album on while having friends over for drinks late at night or snuggling with a lover. It’s truly a mellow album. I’m sure with more listens, it’ll just crawl into my brain.

Justin’s pick for outstanding track:

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Shan’s review:

I have one word to describe this album: Magical. I just absolutely love Ellie’s voice, it’s fresh and something different. I saw someone on a forum exclaim, “Finally something different!” and that’s exactly how I feel. There’s a lot of good pop music out there right now but it’s all starting to just mesh together and be interchangeable. Then in comes Ellie and gives us something different.

Of course, I’ve loved both the singles so far, that goes without even saying. I have to say the biggest stand out to me on the album was Wish I Stayed. I wasn’t a huge fan of the song when it was posted to her website but they completely reworked the song for the album and made it much more upbeat and quite frankly. Perfect. I’m not really good at getting into the technicalities of a song, so I usually prefer to skip most of that and point out the highlights and low lights. Another one that really caught my ear right off the bat is Your Biggest Mistake. One other to really look out for on the album is The Writer, at first listen I kind of laughed at it and thought it was rather silly but on the second listen I realize it was one of the real standouts on the album. The album, although only 10 tracks (11 if you have the bonus track Lights) it’s a very solid effort. If there were any I’d throw out, it would probably be I’ll Hold My Breath or the lead track Guns and Horses. Fans seem to be really getting into Salt Skin which is the last track on the album, it seems a little more experimental, and just like Justin doesn’t understand what Under the Sheets is about, I have no clue what this song is about.

Overall, as you can tell I give this album high marks, as Justin mentioned it has an organic feel. I feel like it’s organic with just the right amount of electro thrown in which all compliments Ellie’s soaring voice.

Shan’s pick for outstanding track:

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Related Posts

1. Video: Ellie Goulding – The Writer
2. Ellie Goulding is Pop Perfection
3. Ellie Conquers!
4. Video: Ellie Goulding – Guns & Horses