Tuesday 9 October 2012

Ellie Goulding- Halcyon (Full Album)

Ellie Goulding is by far my favourite female vocalist. Her voice is so pure and unedited, and the result is a sound unparalleled in my opinion. Asides from being stunningly beautiful her song composition is organic and pure. Also, I'm by no means a lyrical analyst and so this review was actually something I found really challenging, but I loved the album and decided to drive through with it, doing as best as I can, so while it's my first swing at a full lyrical album, and by no means am I a lyrical analyst, so I did my best.
Check out the album after the jump.

Don't Say A Word
The track opens with just Ellie's plain vocals, nothing else, and I love it because of that, it is a great way to start off the album and the track eventually moves into a driving raw drum beat and a sparkling synth pattern.  

My Blood
This next one opens softly with a slower piano part for a few bars before going into Ellie's vocal part over top of piano chords and violins. 

Anything Could Happen
This track was the first official single from the album that blew my mind. I heard in an interview that this track had a lot of meaning to her and that she was really nervous about it at first. The track was certainly well received and the music video is very fitting.

Only You
Only You starts out with a looped vocal and then Ellie starts singing over it with a pounding beat then a guitar comes in and while it's not an instrumentation I'd expect it works well to create a nice track.

Halcyon
Starts out with a soft acoustic guitar pattern, then Ellie comes in with vocals, I found this track a little weak to be honest, for it being the title track, I expected a bit more, it almost begins to sound repetitive on this track.


Figure 8
This track surfaced a few days ago and it's been in my go to playlist since. This track is undoubtedly a powerful ballad that's carried by a brilliant electronic production that I hope is influenced by her boyfriend Skrillex. This track certainly jumps into the pop/electronic side that made her track, Lights so popular, this is certainly one of my more favoured tracks on the album.

Joy
After Figure 8, this track brings it right down into a really soft track with a beautiful violin part and I love Ellie's lyrics on this track, speaking about finding joy and acheiving it.

Hanging On
This track starts out with a harp part and I love the hook on this track. It ends up with some dark lyrics, and Ellie's vocals are almost eerie. It soon starts out into the indie electronic beat that suits Ellie's vocals so perfectly.

Explosions
This is a good track that starts off with Ellie singing on top of a basic riff, made up of a blend of strings and vocals. You would expect from a song with a name such as explosions to be a lot more harsh or strong, but what she produced actually suits the title nicely. The song evolves into something more powerful, with a nice beat and piano piece to go along with the vocals.



I Know You Care
This track yet again has the perfect production to compliment her vocals. Ellie's incredible vocals truly never dissapoint. I Know You Care is a more mellow track with some strong emotions in it. The track also has it's own music video that features clips from an upcoming movie, Now Is Good, so check out the video at the end.

Atlantis
A pretty upbeat song, and sung very high. What notes most people might struggle to hit as a goal in itself, Ellie reaches with ease, and stays there for most of the song, highlighting her pure talent that has made itself the focus of the whole album. The chorus consists of a repeated "Where'd you go?", sung over top of a beat that adds depth to the song.

Dead In The Water
With amazing effect, this song creates a mental image of an empty and completely still lake, complete with clear echoes that slowly fade into near silence. Like most of her tracks, she incorporates strings and piano into the second half of this song, complementing her two vocal tracks perfectly. Although the track does develop from the quiet and near silent introduction, it fades back into silence with echoes at the very end.

I Need Your Love (feat. Calvin Harris)
I really hope this track is something of a teaser to Calvin Harris' upcoming album, 18 Months. This one has a really good production from Calvin Harris that's identifiable instantly while not sound repetitive from his other tracks. His style is so catchy. Ellie's vocals are more upbeat in this one, making it the same style of track as Lights.

Lights
Where to start on this single? This was the big one that made Ellie Goulding. While Lights is a relatively older track, it's made a giant comeback out of nowhere this past summer in the US and it's got a great beat and stunning vocals. This track is iconic for Ellie Goulding and it always will be, I'm glad it ended up on Halcyon.


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