Oh shit. Cast your mind back a year or so to when you first heard Lykke Li do her thing. Or Little Boots. Or La Roux. Or Florence and the Machine. Or Marina and the Diamonds. All awesome female indie/electro-pop and all of it (with the exception of Lykke Li) from the UK. Ellie Goulding is the latest and greatest.
Ms. Goulding has got one of those voices that manages to straddle mainstream sensibilities and leftfield – it’s sweet as hell. With knob-twiddling duties from another rising star Star Smith, ‘Starry Eyes’ is a great alt dance-pop production but there’s more.
What really convinced me of her talent was her stunning cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Wolves’. That was the sucker-punch.
Also, any singer that can turn Sam Sparro’s annoying ‘Black and Gold’ into something great deserves serious recognition.
Ellie Goulding – Black and Gold
Ellie Goulding on Twitter.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Hmm, I listened to her cover of ‘Wolves’ yesterday after seeing Eimear blog about it (on http://themiseducationof.wordpress.com ), and I really wasn’t blown away by it. Gave the other songs on her myspace a quick go too but it just didn’t grab me, not on first listen anyway.
I’m beyond in love with her voice. ‘Wish I Stayed’ was all I listened to all last week. Over and over and over. Her voice is definitely “sweet as hell”.
oww I’m loved with this girl. She had a amazing voice!!! “Wish I Stayed” is her best song!!!