Ellie Goulding. Now there’s an artist I could never get into.

No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I was just never taken by Ellie’s vocals. Her Wikipedia says it best:

Neil McComick of The Daily Telegraph described her voice as “something special”, continuing; “Her tremulous vibrato and slightly hoarse timbre have the feel of something primal and folky, her birdlike high notes conveying a childlike wonder while darker tones imply ancient depths of sorrow. She sings like she is strung out on the melody, warbling from a place of desperate emotion.

I don’t know – something about an artist’s style being “warbling” and “birdlike” that disconcerts, and combined with my not exactly being taken with her initial single releases, and the fact the hipster generation have already migrated to her…

Well, I was all ready to resign her to the box marked “Laura Marling” (remember her?) and move on.

As ever, as often I am (oh, so very often), I was proven wrong.

While hanging up laundry (yes, it’s a rock ‘n’ roll life), an ad on television caught my attention – mostly acoustic, with a female vocal, it took me about 3 seconds to guess that it was Ellie Goulding. But unlike much of her previous work, the simpler tune and goose-bump inducing lyrics stayed with me.

And so I give you “Explosions”, from her 2012 album “Halcyon”. It’s not the most complex tune in the world; not by a long way. And yes, it’s a bit warbling and birdlike. However, at 0:51, it turns, and at 1:01, launches into one of the most beautiful choruses I’ve heard in many months.

Mostly Ellie’s voice with some piano and strings poured on top, it’s the lyrics that truly cut…

I pray that you will find peace of mind
And I’ll find you another time
I’ll love you, another time

Explosions on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same…

A song about the moment someone realises that it’s okay to need another. When it’s too late.

A song about someone leaving you behind, and realising that they shouldn’t have.

A song about putting your love on hold so that someone else can find their way.

You trembled like you’d seen a ghost
And I gave in
I lack the things you need the most
You said where have you been
You wasted all that sweetness to run and hide
I wonder why
I remind you of the days you poured your heart into
But you never tried
I’ve fallen from grace
Took a blow to my face
I’ve loved and I’ve lost
I’ve loved and I’ve lost

Explosions on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
It will never be the same

You left my soul bleeding in the dark
So you could be king
The rules you set are still untold to me and I
Lost my faith in everything
The nights you could cope, your intentions were gold
But the mountains will shake
I need to know I can still make

Explosions on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same

And as the floods move in
And your body starts to sink
I was the last thing on your mind
I know you better than you think
‘Cause it’s simple darling, I gave you a warning
Now everything you own is falling from the sky in pieces
So watch them fall with you, in slow motion
I pray that you will find peace of mind
And I’ll find you another time
I’ll love you, another time

Explosions on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same…

Ellie Goulding – Explosions

www: Ellie’s official website; Facebook Page and Twitter.

You know those songs, don’t you?

You do.

The ones that you leave on repeat and let flow over you. The ones that match perfectly to your staring out your window on a grey, overcast and wet day. The ones that are so very simple, yet cut through the very soul of you like a knife.

Aj Lark over at Music is my First Language (who, it has to be said, beats me into submission when it comes to great music knowledge. Both knowledge of great music, and great knowledge of music. You know what I mean.), pointed me in the direction of Castle Lights a couple of weeks ago, and specifically to http://castlelightsmusic.com/keep-waiting-eleftheria/, where they made the song “Keep Waiting” free for download.

A plucked guitar, a cello, Tyler Susuras’ lead vocals – starting off, the song sounds nice, but like a hundred, a thousand other songs I’ve come across. Albeit an insistent guitar loop.

And then, at 0:47, the guitar pluck turns to a strum, the cello rises, and a very faint drum tattoo is heard, and the song itself rises above the hundred, thousand others.

Alternating between the plucked and the strummed, the cello falling back and rising, the song itself is an ode to futility. How many of us have fought for something that will never be? And yet, we keep fighting; we keep struggling, in the belief it’ll all come good?

Nearly four and a half years ago, I posted the National’s “About Today”, a song about that moment when you know a relationship is over. “Keep Waiting” is the few seconds before that realisation, looping over and over.

I don’t know – maybe sometimes the fight is worth it. “Keep Waiting” makes me think someone thinks it.

And I know, at some time in the future, I’ll fight again.

Time will tell if it’s “About Today” or “Keep Waiting” that wins out.

Lying as the day is long
Fighting ’til it’s said and done
Crying as you hard your heart
Hiding ’til it’s torn apart
You’re waiting for that special sign
Waiting for it to fall in line

And we’ll keep waiting
And we’ll keep waiting for a sign
We’ll keep waiting

Running ’til the day is gone
We hit a few bumps along the way
Love had made me a bitter soul
I’ve learned to let it go
I’ll keep waiting for perfect time
When two hearts fall in line

And we’ll keep waiting
And we’ll keep waiting for perfect time
We’ll keep waiting
And we’ll keep waiting
And we’ll keep waiting for perfect time
Keep waiting

And your heart in mine will be forever home, home
And your heart in mine will be forever love, love
And your heart in mine will be forever home, home
And your heart in mine will be forever love

And we’ll keep waiting
And we’ll keep waiting for a sign
We’ll keep waiting
We’ll keep waiting for perfect time…

Castle Lights – Keep Waiting

www: Castle Light’s official website; Facebook Page and Twitter.

We all love a damaged singer, don’t we? Maybe it’s just me.

And when a singer releases an album called “Dear…”, and I read the absolutely perfect line “‘Dear…’ makes ‘For Emma…’ sound like Skrillex”, well, it must be love.

However, my admission of love might in fact scare off Keaton Henson, a 23-year-old singer from the UK. As might my posting a picture. Let’s try anyway…

An article from the Guardian can explain this better than I:

The 24-year-old illustrator-cum-singer-songwriter, who self-released his debut Dear… through Bandcamp at the end of 2010, has never played the usual industry games. Recording in solitude in his Richmond bedroom in London, he’s amassed something of a cult following in a rarefied indie niche. But now, signed to Radiohead’s management, and having re-released Dear… through Oak Records in April, the prospect of coming face-to-face with his public is one that Henson has to confront. And it troubles him.

A series of panic attacks plagued his childhood – this much he admits, but he won’t explain why. After a series of live dates supporting the BalletBoyz at Sadler’s Wells in 2010, he went into hiding after finding he suffered from crippling stage fright. “I’ve always struggled with live music, both as a spectator and performer,” he tells me. “I used to enjoy going to live shows, but felt a strange jealousy. No part of me wanted to share the music with which I had such a profound relationship with a room full of (often drunk and chatty) strangers.”

However, as of this month, Keaton played two gigs in London – online reviews unfound to date. However, and more seriously, this latter quote of his is key – from Henson’s own website, in a section labelled “Intrude”, are a few lines which speak volumes:

Dear unknown
I hope you listen as though it were all for you
I hope she knows it was.
I hope you can forget the fact I do both
It meant more before.
The Author

So, to me, this music was never meant for us. And how can you not love a man quoted as saying:

If I can make the audience (in spite of how many of them there are) feel as lonely as I do, using the space and situation, everything makes more sense.

From Henson’s 2012 “The Lucky” EP, I give you the utterly, utterly heartbreaking “To Your Health” – nothing but plucked electric guitar and Henson’s tremulous falsetto, and a song that in anyone else’s hands, would be bitter and scathing. In Henson’s? Bitter. Scathing. And beautiful.

I’ve also included two videos for this song as well – while as powerful aurally as visually, there’s just…something…about these.

Keaton Henson wants us to feel as lonely as he does. Who are we to disagree?

So make mine a pain in the neck
Here’s to you, you old wreck
And mine is a thorn in the side
Drink up, so we can both finally die

And I’ll have a bright yellow boat
With nothing to row
With nothing to row

So make mine an all out of luck
Here’s to you, you miserable fuck
And why did you finally leave?
’cause all you think of is me
’cause all you think of is me

To your health
To your health

So make mine a pain in the neck
Here’s to you, you old wreck

Keaton Henson – To Your Health

www: Keaton’s official website; the only existing Facebook Page, run by fans; his Vimeo page, and that’s about it, to be honest.