RECOMMENDED LISTENING - Great music and fantastic lyrics. Ellie Goulding fans will be ecstatic! Anyone who appreciates good music should give this album a listen; it’s quite exceptional.
This is a long awaited return from Ellie Goulding; with soaring vocals, rich ambient music, almost ethereal at times but with quirky moments and frequent pulsing beats. A must buy for Ellie fans and anyone who enjoys a semi-chilled alternative sound. It almost fits within the electronic dance genre at times and there are a bunch of remixes lurking around too.
Ellie said she chose the title because, "Halcyon is like a bird that basically during the winter, it would lay its eggs by the sea and bring calm to the stormy waters and a lot of my songs on this record are about the ocean and water...".
REVIEW
Ellie said she chose the title because, "Halcyon is like a bird that basically during the winter, it would lay its eggs by the sea and bring calm to the stormy waters and a lot of my songs on this record are about the ocean and water...".
REVIEW
I hear a lot of great voices used within the electronic dance music world; both chilled and trance. I don’t think any of them exceeds Ellie’s range but she has her own distinctive sound so I don’t think she will move in that direction. However, I would love to hear her do an album which is more chilled at some point. This is definitely a move, from my viewpoint, in the right direction from her Bright Lights album back in 2010. She articulates so well that you can hear almost every word she sings which is a real bonus these days, especially with such well crafted lyrics.
How this could be listed as pop music on iTunes is a mystery to me [apologies as this seems to be a recurring theme with me! This is so far from current pop music which is overall a total disaster musically speaking.
How to define it? Well Ocean plays an mainly chilled mix with as many genres of music within that as we can find that mix well together. Most of this album would fit comfortably on our play lists with a few exceptions.
The album kicks off with Don't Say A Word and Ellie’s distinctive vocal tones overlaying a steady pulsing beat, giving way to quieter ambient like moments.
Anything Could Happen is the most pop like track on the album, which verges on a dance track.
Halcyon the track itself is full of Ellie’s usual tremulous rapid, breathy singing style. The song opens out into a dance rhythm interlaced with an electronic chilled and dance rhythm.
Figure 8 - A really great track that anyone who ever loved and lost can relate with.
“I chased your love around a figure 8 I need you more than I can take
You promised forever and a day And then you take it all away
(And then you take it all away)”
Summing Up -
I listen to albums many times and then narrow down tracks and go over and over making sure I feel they will sit within a playlist on Ocean Radio. So this was a particular challenge for me because the album is beautiful and I would like to put every track on the radio but they don’t all sit easily within Ocean’s chilled theme.
What you will hear right away will be; Hanging On, Halcyon and Atlantis.
You should go listen to this yourself and discover what a sophisticated and gorgeous album this is.
-Pippa
Learn more about Elli Goulding here: http://elliegoulding.com
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