LIGHTS // ELLIE GOULDING

To be honest, I saw Lights coming a mile away. It's too much for the record label suits to let a female artist with girl next door looks to be anything other than pop. There's no money in it otherwise, and nobody wants that. I also understand how very typical it is for the people who got her to where she is (her original fans) suddenly reject her as soon as she makes it. But that's what's going to happen, people are fickle and the weight of hype is suffocating for all but a select few.

While Ellie Goulding had this charming Electro/Indie/Pop vibe when we first heard her, it's a different girl we're listening to on Lights. Perhaps i'm being a tad melodramatic, but the whole thing feels over-produced and typical. From the album artwork, which will turn everyone but the most stalwart Beyonce fans away in disgust, to the cutesy sentimentality and sappy lyrical work in most of the tracks, it all reeks of a budding young artist steered towards the black hole of despair that is the Top 40 charts by the powers that be. It was obvious with Frankmusik's debut, Complete Me, and it's obvious here.

However like everything, Lights is not without its merits. The opener, Guns And Horses, is exactly what I was hoping for from Goulding with this album. It's catchy as hell but still retains that X-Factor that discerns credible songwriting from manufactured pop. Tracks previously heard and loved by many such as Starry Eyed and Under The Sheets are still there, but little vocal flourishes and production highlights make them sound far more pop than ever before, especially in the former. Your Biggest Mistake is another song that gives us but a glimpse of what could have been, it's a truly compelling track, and the vocal effects utilised remind me once again of Frankmusik, but here it's a great thing, rather than a disappointing similarity.

Which makes me wonder about the tracks that didn't make it on the album. You get a sneaking suspicion throughout the album that this is not her best work, just the stuff deemed least risky by her label.

All of this said, you could do far worse than buy Lights. In a world where people like Lady Gaga can become famous and respected, Ellie Goulding is a breath of fresh air. I sincerely hope this album and her inevitable success doesn't pigeon-hole her for the rest of her career.

5/10

WEBSITE

HYPE

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Digital Love (Algeronics Remix) - Daft Punk

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Cousins - Vampire Weekend

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Your Body Is A Machine - The Good Natured

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Quicksand (Alex Metric Remix) - La Roux

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When O' When - Is Tropical

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Fighter Plane - Ellie Goulding

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On The Road - We Are Eyesight

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Old School - We Are Eyesight

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Won't Go Quietly (Juan MacLean Remix) - Example

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Watch The Sun Come Up (Fred Falke Remix) - Example 

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Help I'm Alive (80kidz Remix) - Metric

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HYPE

Two Door Cinema Club have just released a new song, a prelude to the debut album release coming early next year. It's called I Can Talk and to be honest, it's not my favourite track from the trio, but it's still pretty damn catchy nonetheless. Also, bucking current trends of all remixes being released lately possessing some truly awful qualities, the I Can Talk remixes seem to be shaping up pretty nicely. I think i prefer both the Crystal Fighters and French Horn Rebellion remixes over the original actually.

I Can Talk - Two Door Cinema Club
I Can Talk (Crystal Fighters Remix) - Two Door Cinema Club
I Can Talk (French Horn Rebellion Remix) - Two Door Cinema Club

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Fyfe Dangerfield of Guillemots fame is releasing a solo album. Here's a great track from the impending release, When You Walk In The Room. Sounds sort of the same, and also completely different from the band's work. Has a cool sort of bluesy-rock feel to it at times.

When You Walk In The Room - Fyfe Dangerfield

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Really can't wait for Fenech-Soler's album to drop, from what I have heard so far it looks to be as cool and catchy as Friendly Fires debut album, with a bit more edginess. Golden Sun features a brass section throughout underneath falsetto vocals and the synthy dance work you've come to know and love from Electro bands of the 2000's.

Golden Sun - Fenech-Soler

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Boy Crisis are a strange band. They clearly have their minds in the gutter at all times, with their songs having a strong sexual undercurrent, and, well actually; a strong sexual overcurrent as well. Strawberries is hilarious, disgusting, wildly inappropriate and insanely catchy all at once. It's a song you'd hate in theory but in practice you can't help but get caught up in the beat and sing along.

Strawberries - Boy Crisis

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Finally, A female singer-songwriter who I feel I could grow to like as much as my future-wife to be, Kate Nash (She will be mine, oh yes; she will be mine.). Ellie Goulding utilises electronic backdrops to sing Indie style songs about love, loss and love-loss. Heard this a hundred times before? Maybe. But nobody has done it as well as Goulding so far in my opinion. She's going to be huge very soon, so jump on the bandwagon while there's still seats available.


Under The Sheets - Ellie Goulding
Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding

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Additionally here's a Tom Vek B-Side from the Nothing But Green Lights single called One Horse Race. Hardly new, but like all material from Vek; still one of the coolest songs around almost 5 years on. One Horse Race actually featured on a radio station in GTA IV most recently, so you may have heard it subconsciously without even knowing. Here's hoping he releases a second album in our lifetimes.


One Horse Race - Tom Vek

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