Ellie Goulding
Lights

It was a sluggish Sunday when, lying on the couch, I happened to catch the video of Starry Eyed, the second single from the album, on TV. What struck me most about the song is that it doesn't feature great vocal/musical peaks: the voice is always controlled, the music barely ever explodes.

It was from that first listen that the desire to listen to the debut album "Lights" (which later became Bright Lights, adding seven tracks to the original ten) was born in me.

Astonishment and wonder. The album perfectly unites two distinct genres (at least before Ellie's debut): folk and electronic, creating a hybrid genre that fans love to call folktronica. It is precisely this strange term, which sounds very post-futuristic, that indicates the meeting of guitar/voice songs with beats and synthesizers. The album was born from the meeting of Goulding, guitar in tow and hundreds of autobiographical lyrics in her notebook, with DJ producer Starsmith: it's thanks to the English producer that Ellie gets closer to the world of electronics. From this collaboration comes "Lights".

The album opens with Guns and Horses, also one of the singles from the album: in this song, the meeting of folk and electronic that I mentioned earlier is very evident. The song opens with a guitar arpeggio, to which a heavy drum loop is immediately added; in the chorus, instead, we find a base of synthesized sounds and bass: folk verses, electronic chorus. Perfect. Vocally, Ellie's voice is delicate, rising in falsetto in the chorus and always remaining very soft: the repetition of I'll do it all for you gives catchiness to the entire song. This track is the symbol of the entire album.

Moving on, we find Starry Eyed, whose chorus/refrain everybody starry eyed, and everybody goes everyone remembers: the electronics here are more evident than in the previous track. A very catchy song (it’s the single that basically launched the entire album), but also very dark, melancholic: despite everyone shining, all eyes being like stars, there is an underlying sadness. That's what I like: this darkness, this mysterious text. Ellie's voice is very delicate and controlled, except in the last chorus, where she allows herself three seconds of explosion: if you like artists like Adele, Ellie Goulding is totally the opposite.

The third track is This Love (Will Be Your Downfall): catchy, very danceable, singable, but not shallow. The song always retains that dark aspect of Starry Eyed, perhaps less expressed here. Noteworthy is the massive use of choirs (very cool!).

The fourth track is Under The Sheets, a dark track probably talking about a love story (?). In my opinion, it’s one of the most beautiful tracks: it starts as an acoustic song, with a very beautiful and enigmatic text in my opinion (in our house made of paper, your words all over me), but it transforms into an electronic track, where the bass is the protagonist. A danceable track with a text as intense as it is enigmatic… what more could you want?

The Writer, the fifth track, is a tendentially pop-folk piece, where the initial piano accompanies Ellie's sweet voice, telling of two completely different people (you wait for a silence, I wait for a world). This opinion may not be agreeable, but I believe the song is a cry of despair: Ellie demands a change, which, however, does not arrive. We momentarily stray from electronics, as the piece, as mentioned, has completely pop and folk atmospheres.

The sixth track is Every Time You Go, very similar (stylistically) to This Love: catchy, danceable, dominated by choirs. The dark atmosphere, in this case, disappears, giving way to a text much closer to the previous track: it talks about distances, broken relationships. Goulding is a storyteller in this song: she tells a story from how it started… to how it ended. Note the final guitar riff (very cool!), which gives a bit of rock atmosphere to the track!

The seventh song we find is Wish I Stayed, my favorite: the producer is no longer Starsmith, but Frankmusik. The song further accentuates the dark atmosphere, well rendered by the use of synthesizers and a "rhythmic" piano. I recommend everyone to listen to it, especially for the lyrics, which I consider one of the best out there: it's a song of remorse (the carelessness of running away, wish I stayed), full of poetry and soul. Within this song, I found my story, and I'm sure everyone finds their own in this masterpiece...

The eighth track Your Biggest Mistake is a dance track (for the first time we hear Ellie's "effects" on her voice), while the ninth track, I'll Hold My Breath, is more oriented on folk, yet still danceable. The former is very similar to This Love, but with a pop intro, while the latter better leads back to The Writer.

The last track of Lights is Salt Skin, one of the most beautiful, stylistically similar to Wish I Stayed: dark atmospheres rendered by the clever use of synthesizers. The text is very beautiful (That is no way to live that is no way to love), but remains dark, and each person can interpret it according to what they think. I think it is a song of exasperation, of a story that drags on over time without evolving: I interpret salty skin as a shell that has formed. Note the final modulation, making the last chorus more desperate, and again the massive use of choirs.

In conclusion, "Lights" is, in my opinion, a somewhat innovative (but not too much) album by an artist with a lot of potential. The songs have their own story, personality, and originality, making them unlike anything else you can find in the music market. Ellie Goulding writes and performs her songs very well, which propose themselves as love stories, but of love that has ended, leading to despair and exasperation. Musically, we have the creation of a hybrid genre, a cross between folk and electronic with strong dark atmospheres.

Absolutely a must-listen. 5/5

PS If you liked this review, I can write another exclusively on Bright Lights. Let me know and stay tuned :)