Two UK number ones, ten UK top tens, and two UK top ten albums, Ellie Goulding is definitely more than just a household name. Ellie Goulding exploded on to the charts a quite a long time ago now with her second single ‘Starry Eyed’ which went no.4 in the UK, and following the platinum selling Halcyon Ellie is back with her third album, Delirium.
Delirium (still going with the one name theme I see) was released on the 6th November through Polydor Records. It opens (unsurprisingly) with the track entitled ‘Intro’. The vocals on this track deliver Ellie Goulding’s signature haunting harmonies over simplistic instruments. There’s something that’s just extremely epic about it. It fades quite nicely into the second track ‘Aftertaste’ which is fun and upbeat. From the funky guitar riff to the driving bass line and the cool drum rhythms this track is easy to listen to and a great addition to the the epic build up of the intro.
“There’s something that’s just extremely epic about it”
This project is full of interesting tracks like ‘Keep On Dancin’ which could have easily been sung by Lorde and I wouldn’t have heard the difference. The guitar loop that features throughout the song ‘On My Mind’ is just awesome. Also the Ellie’s choice of flow on this song is quite cool as she flows on the track almost like a rapper. She also ticks the Mustard box with the track ‘Don’t Need Nobody.’ The instrumental seems to mix elements of Hip-Hop, RnB and EDM to create a hybrid track that I feel could appeal to a lot of audiences.
Ellie explores a lot of genres even if just taking influences for example on the track ‘I Do What I Love’ she takes a bashment rhythm and loops it on an Indian sounding kit with Middle Eastern String Instruments creating a song that wouldn’t feel out of place on a M.I.A. project. But she does not stray from her sound with songs like ‘Codes’ which sounds like something straight of a FIFA soundtrack (that’s a good thing).
As an R&B fan I am slightly disappointed that this project has swayed much more to the EDM side of things and would have liked to see more songs like the cover she did of Alt J’s ‘Tessellate.’ This is definitely a good pop album however it just doesn’t appeal to me. That being said I did enjoy some moments of the album and while I’m not sure of it’s replay value for me, I could see why others would enjoy the project and would definitely recommend that you have a listen.
Joshua Ogunmokun
Josh is currently listening to ‘Bad Blood’ by Nao
