Our first go at reviewing her as an actually popular artist…
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[5.70]
John Seroff: I’ve been listening to the demo of “Guns and Horses” for almost seven months; following my intense infatuation with “Under the Sheets”, I snapped up everything Goulding and her crew had laid out for the bloggers and MySpace rippers. “Guns” struck me as among the most lackluster of these pre-release tracks and I’m deeply pleased to hear it all polished up into one of the high points on Ellie’s Lights album; the differences are minor but they absolutely matter. Where the demo was dour and too often monotone, the album cut is vivacious, playful and notably shorter. Goulding is still the person I talk about the most when people ask me to recommend someone they haven’t yet heard; I’m still looking forward to having her break in the US, even if it means finding a new trump card.
[9]
Edward Okulicz: Now this is exactly the sort of thing she should be doing. The electronica still sounds like it’s being foisted on her, but this time it works wonderfully in tandem with the song, which ebbs and flows into a fantastic chorus. Perhaps vocally she’s too inherently cutesy to pull off the wistful depth this aspires to, but no matter; I’m charmed.
[8]
Ian Mathers: Remember when David Gray did something roughly like what Goulding did (albeit with much more austerity)? He got a lot less respect than Ellie seems to be getting, but both use(d) electronic music to give their fairly conventional pop-folk songwriting a boost. While “Under the Sheets” suggested that Goulding had advanced on what Gray did with “Babylon,” “Guns and Horses” feels like a step back, at least sonically. This is a good song, but I wish it was weirder.
[7]
Alex Macpherson: Mundane sentiments expressed in a pedestrian way and set to the most boring arrangement imaginable – a bit of folk twang to give her cred, a bit of whatever sickly sheen they put on Diana Vickers records to make her “pop”. Though it’s not as if Goulding, who doesn’t appear to be significantly talented at writing lyrics, melodies or indeed singing, deserves any better.
[2]
Katherine St Asaph: Another gorgeous lacquer-and-glitter production by Starsmith, and for once Ellie nearly matches it, a few gaspy high notes notwithstanding. At least five other singers could do more justice to this, but it’s undeniably pretty.
[7]
Martin Skidmore: If she were a fractionally better singer, this might work a lot better – there are really poor and weak moments. The music is lightweight electropop, written and sung with suggestions of real feeling, and the sound glitters along nicely enough, but I still ended up thinking that it almost worked…
[5]
Alfred Soto: Almost not bad, especially when she goes batshit in the last twenty seconds to the accompaniment of clapping. But its incoherent title symbolizes her confusion: part of her settles for pretty maxims like erasing the pain and realizing “who we are,” one part gravitates towards some kind of Miranda Lambert-esque sexualized ambivalence, and the last third mangled a Big & Rich concept.
[5]
Anthony Easton: Songs about horses should gallop; songs about guns should have some propulsion.
[4]
Chuck Eddy: Ellie seems to have a rather screwy (post-Sinead/ Cranberries I guess) relationship to punctuation and inflection, so despite being loud enough, she doesn’t put over whatever song might be here. But when the rhythm gets galloping, I suppose this earns its horses regardless. Guns, I’m less sure.
[5]
Additional Scores
Doug Robertson: [5]