Halcyon Days

I had heard of Ellie Goulding from features on other artists’ songs and remixes, but it wasn’t until I got my hands on Halcyon Days that I really started to appreciate her as a solo artist. And, in fact, it wasn’t even the CD that got me into her—it was this video of her performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on October 16, 2012 that really got me hooked.

She has a magnificently beautiful voice. It’s one that I think is truly genuine. Genuine and imperfect. No one else has quite the breathiness and hoarseness found in her voice, either. Along with the British accent and laid over some catchy electronic beats, her sound is amazing.

Halcyon Days was a re-issue of Goulding’s sophomore effort Halcyon. It was generally well-received, topping UK charts and doing well across most of Europe and the U.S.

To me, Halcyon Days comes off a bit over-produced. But in all honesty, most electronic albums have a tendency to sound this way. However, on this album you can actually hear the blatant auto-tuning at points; other times everything is so womp-womp-warble-warble it feels a bit crowded or overwhelming. Part of my bias might come from having first heard Ellie Goulding’s live performance, where the production was more stripped down, and in my opinion better.

Overall though, Halcyon Days is an excellent album. It makes the short list of electronic albums I can listen to the whole way through—and that’s saying a lot considering the Deluxe version features over 20 songs. I love all of the singles, like ‘Figure 8’, ‘I Need Your Love’ and ‘Burn’. But my favorite tracks are the ones where Ellie’s voice is featured high and above the music, songs like ‘I Know You Care’.

If you’re a fan of electronic/dance music, pretty girls with British accents, beautiful voices, or any combination thereof, I highly suggest checking out this album. Or, better yet, go see her perform it live.