Halcyon
*Halcyon* is the accomplished sophomore album from English singer/songwriter Ellie Goulding, and it finds her pushing in darker and more dramatic musical directions than on her incandescent debut full-length, *Lights*. The strutting beat of its buoyant lead single, “Anything Could Happen,” features Goulding’s inimitable gossamer vocals, but it\'s one of just a few upbeat tracks (the clubby “Burn” and Calvin Harris’ “I Need Your Love” are also dancefloor-ready). *Halcyon* seems resolute on spotlighting Goulding’s dynamic voice on midtempo tracks and ballads that alternate between piano-and-strings intimacy and thundering displays of percussive bombast, à la Florence + The Machine. Merging chamber pop with epic soundscapes and the occasional electronic flourish, *Halcyon* further establishes Goulding as an artist to watch.
Having scored a U.S. Top 10 hit, and performed at Prince William's wedding reception and Barack Obama's Christimas tree-lighting ceremony, the release of Ellie Goulding's second album, Halcyon, couldn't be timelier-- nor more varied a collection.
Halcyon: a time past when life was happy and peaceful. It's a bittersweet theme that listeners of Ellie Goulding's sophomore venture will become very familiar with over the course of the album's 12 songs.
Ellie Goulding's 'beige pop' reputation may change with this confident, action-packed followup, writes <strong>Rebecca Nicholson</strong>
On her new album, Halcyon, Ellie Goulding’s voice imprints everything she sings with unique character, writes Neil McComick.
The latest from the John Lewis cover girl is the fiddle's sound as dead eyes watch pop music burn. Cd review by Thomas H Green