Ellie Goulding – Figure 8

Halcyon saw Goulding make a distinct and clear step away from her electronic pop formula and take on a more dubstep twisted form of her art. The grinding production of Figure 8 continues in this vein and comes courtesy of a team up between MONSTA who has been on remixing duty for the likes of Zedd & Labrinth, and Mike Spencer who has produced dubstep-influenced tunes such as Too Close by Alex Clare and Feel the Love by Rudimental.

The cascading comets of ragged heavy synths evaporate into tinkling delicate strings accompanied by determined piano strikes. The video is an explosion of turbulent emotions, that writhe with the deep bassline and shudder with the droning, dense synth.  Despite the differences, some similarities remain to anchor her luminescent style – quivering violins and soothing harp strums cocoon the song’s heavier production side, and her rare characteristic vocals give the single a sense of depth and familiarity. Figure 8 may not be an uplifting song but its powerful intensity does give a stronger feeling of purpose.

Rating: 9/10

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