“Your Biggest Mistake”, produced by Fraser T. Acoustic guitar strums hide out in the background, adding a subtle touch to a very basic track. Lovely piano melodies slowly rise along with Goulding’s voice to a beautiful, passionate chorus. “The Writer” is Lights‘ centerpiece and it’s easy to see why. The production doesn’t get it wrong every time, though. But once the verse starts, the swirling, uninspired synths are back, making it indistinguishable from many other tracks on the album. “Salt Skin” has a lovely string-laced introduction that features a Bjork-like wordless vocal. The only thing that saves this from the filler pile is an ascending arpeggio of keys that lead into the chorus. It uses the stuttering, repeated vocal technique that’s already been found in countless other pop singles. “Starry Eyed” is similar, kicking off with a guitar but moving quickly to a standard pop formula. Musically, though, it falls flat once the chorus comes in. It’s a very upbeat song that fits the hopeful lyrics. “Guns and Horses” starts with a Beatles-esque acoustic guitar pattern, feathery drum touches, and a xylophone. Most of the other numbers Starsmith produced don’t do as well sadly. It’s a very layered track but not overwhelming to the point where you can’t tell what’s going on. The way the melody rises and falls between the chorus and verse is excellent. The track continues to build with the addition of a simple yet groovy drum pattern and the heavy pounding of a synth keyboard in the chorus. The big single, “Lights”, features sunny keys that float around Goulding’s warm, breathy vocals. In some cases, this works to the album’s advantage, like when the song is already poppy. version of the album, not the original UK release.) (For the record, this is a review of the U.S. The result is that most of what makes Goulding’s work appealing, such as her voice and instrumentation, is lost underneath generic synthesizers that turn these songs into standard pop fare.
He co-wrote a little less than half the record and produced a whopping nine out of 11 tracks. In fact, Goulding’s album is one of the first that he’s had a large role in terms of songwriting and sound.
The one who will stand out the most though if you read the album credits is Starsmith, an English producer known more for his remixes than his album work. There’s a bevy of producers and writers who had a hand in creating this record. It’s this third scenario that hurts Ellie Goulding‘s debut album, Lights. This can happen by either taking over too much of the creative process, not doing enough to move it along, or overproduce it with generic beats and walls of sound that removes the artist’s musical identity. On the other hand, a bad producer can ruin the potential the track originally had. On one hand, a great producer can utterly transform an average or undeveloped idea into an excellent song. The obligatory encore gave us Burn, a fitting way to end a spectacular show.Production is a tricky field.
#CLOSE TO ME ELLIE GOULDING CHORUS SOUNDS LIKE SKIN#
Only Bad Girls/Salt Skin seemed like a wrong move, but it went unnoticed by the largely female audience.
It was, without dissing the other members, Oh's contribution on keyboards that was a major factor in the sound. As there was no introduction of the band members I can only conclude that this is her current band of Joe Clegg - drums, Chris Ketley - guitar and keys, Simon Francis - bass and Jihea Oh - synth and keys. Highlight for me was The Writer with its angelic chorus backing and ''churchy'' feel followed closely by Explosions, which, has to be said, sounds like a Lorde tune. She had performed it at Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding reception and this was a nice respite from the bombast. After an opening set of half a dozen well-chosen tracks, which included Ritual, Goodness Gracious, Animal and Starry Eyed - and let's be honest here, there isn't a lot of material to choose from yet - she then switched to an acoustic set of Guns and Horses, Beating Heart and a super version of her hit, a cover of Elton John's Your Song. It was a muscular performance, as if Pink, Rihanna and Katy Perry were desperately trying to outdo each other.Īs is the case these days, the light show played an important part but came dangerously close to contributing to an epileptic fit. And it was the massively enthusiastic audience who played their part making Goulding raise her own game. Clad in black tights, black bra and a bare midriff, Goulding owned the stage extolling the audience to reach for a higher bar after every song.
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