ADRIAN THRILLS: Ellie Golding drops ballads for fizzing dancefloor bangers
ELLIE GOULDING: Higher Than Heaven (Polydor)
Verdict: Ellie goes back to basics
THOMAS BANGALTER: Mythologies (Warner Classics)
Judgment: Rhythmic ballet score
Judgement: 
ALLAN CLARKE: I’ll Never Forget (BMG)
Verdict: Nostalgic country and pop
Judgement:
Pop singers have been lining up lately to express their deepest feelings. In the past month alone, the usually enigmatic Lana Del Rey has dissected her private life into songs, while Katie Melua’s Love & Money album reflected the singer’s take on new motherhood.
Ed Sheeran has promised that his forthcoming LP, Subtract, due out next month, will contain his deepest, darkest thoughts.
One singer who bravely bucks the trend is Ellie Goulding. The Hereford-born, BRIT-winning artist, who has topped the charts with three of her four previous releases, is convinced her fifth album is her ‘least personal’ to date. “My specialty is ballads that people can relate to,” she says. “But this time I didn’t want to.”
Instead, she’s back with a collection of smashing dance numbers that mix influences of old and new, but don’t dwell on the relationship dramas and other anxieties (she’s had panic attacks) that fueled her songwriting in the past.
Ellie Goulding is convinced that her fifth album is her ‘least personal’ yet. Pictured: Ellie Goulding at the GRAMMY Museum on March 14, 2023
The 36-year-old singer began work on Higher Than Heaven while pregnant with her son Arthur, now almost two, and the prospect of becoming a mother seems to have sparked the feeling of unbridled joy that permeates a series of propulsive bangers composed with the help of hitmakers like Greg Kurstin, Julia Michaels and Andrew Wells.
When she broke through in 2010, Goulding had a clear identity: the girl next door who mixed folky melodies with thumping electronics.
She then slowly lost her way, brutally chasing pop trends on 2015’s Delirium before delivering an overlong mix of R&B, tender ballads and introspective interludes on 2020’s Brightest Blue. She’s now back to basics and she likes it.
“My body is on fire from this heat we’re creating tonight,” she sings on the title track, a celebration of club culture laced with high-pitched vocals that are a throwback to her debut album, Lights. “Electric feelings make me dream,” she adds on Like A Saviour. The cushiony Midnight Dreams is set between Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus and Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa. Dominated by exuberant, groove-driven tracks, Higher Than Heaven is an album of heady escape rather than lyrical relief.
Those expecting a glimpse of Ellie’s behind-the-scenes life will be disappointed, but there are occasional hints of something deeper.
On Cure For Love’s Robyn-esque disco pop, she talks about the “scars in my head from those left behind… and it’s raw.” In keeping with the record’s carefree spirit, she then advocates a night of dancing as the antidote to all romantic woes.
The floor-filling pace slackens only twice. The devious R&B of Waiting For It (‘keep your fancy champagne, I’m only drunk on you’) feels at odds with the rest of the material (it would fit nicely with Brightest Blue), but the closing song How Long is a beloved exercise in soft reggae that makes for a perfect wind-me-down.
Despite the bewildering absence of Miracle – Goulding’s current collaboration with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, and a song topping today’s new chart – Higher Than Heaven finds Ellie in her element and blasts her to the stars in a refreshing return to form.
Without his former bandmate Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk split in 2021), he leaves the rave scene for a world of tuxedos, batons and classic strings. Pictured: Thomas Bangalter (left) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, of the music group Daft Punk
- As one half of Parisian synth duo Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter was responsible for some of the best dance records — and most impressive robot masks — of the past three decades.
But now working without his former bandmate Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk split in 2021), he’s leaving the rave scene for a world of tuxedos, batons and classic strings.
His new solo album, Mythologies, is his 90-minute orchestral score for a new ballet by French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj… and it’s a world away from Daft Punk’s 2013 worldwide hit Get Lucky.
Bangalter is not the first pop star to take such a step. Elvis Costello has also composed a ballet (Il Sogno) and Paul McCartney has written several orchestral pieces. But Mythologies, which takes stories from ancient folklore and sets them to music, shows Bangalter’s versatility. The album, played by the 55-piece Orchester National Bordeaux Aquitaine, is inspired by traditional baroque styles and the American minimal music of the sixties.
The more rhythmic motifs contain traces of Bangalter’s earlier soundtrack work, but this is his first fully orchestral piece. Dance fans should be careful, but it’s an intriguing detour.
- Allan Clarke’s second solo album in four years has something nostalgic about it. The former Hollies singer reunites with former bandmate Graham Nash on several songs.
With ex-Hollies’ keyboardist Francis Haines also on board, Clarke dives further into the styles of Nashville. Pictured: Eric Haydock, Bernie Calvert, Graham Nash, Allan Clarke and Terry Sylvester of The Hollies attend the 25th Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony on March 15, 2010
He also sings about his wife – the “Jennifer” in The Hollies’ hit Jennifer Eccles – on the heartfelt country song The Presence Of You.
The 80-year-old Clarke doesn’t hit the top notes he once reached with hits like The Air That I Breathe, but his deeper baritone is enhanced by Nash’s harmonies on Buddy’s Back, written by Nash about the pair’s early days in Manchester.
With ex-Hollies’ keyboardist Francis Haines also on board, Clarke delves further into Nashville styles on You Shine A Light and the upbeat breakup track You Didn’t Like It, before considering more serious, meaningful issues on Who Am I.
- All albums have been released today. Ellie Goulding kicks off a UK tour in Barrowland, Glasgow on October 18 (livenation.co.uk).