The beat goes on from there, from the twinkle and thump of Something In The Way You Move to the more bittersweet drive of the current single On My Mind, with its pining guitar fills and bright electronic bursts embellishing the catchy choruses. It's moody stuff, but segues confidently into the breathless neo-disco of Aftertaste. Intro (Delirium) opens the album with Goulding cooing in her upper register, then dipping into throatier, Eastern-flavored melisma, as strings are layered on top of the eerie synth foundation. Kurstin's work with Sia, in particular, seems to inform the sharp hooks and sparkling textures that fuel these lithe but muscular tracks. 6, teams her with pop savants such as Max Martin, Ryan Tedder and, perhaps most crucially, Greg Kurstin, also a collaborator on Halcyon.
The new Delirium (three out of four stars), title notwithstanding, finds Goulding sounding more laser-focused than ever. (Her reading of Elton John's Your Song even earned her a gig at William and Kate's wedding.) The follow-up Halcyon felt empowered by her growing international fame, more aggressive in its electronically driven arrangements. That quality has been increasingly evident since Goulding's emergence with 2010's Lights, the gently ambitious debut that made her a huge star at home. But actually, Goulding's quavering lyric soprano, an instrument with both beauty and character (if not quite the technical marvel some admirers have suggested), can convey a desire to slightly unsettle the listener, on her own terms. "I think sometimes it sounds like my voice is, like, out of control," Ellie Goulding told Carson Daly back in 2012.
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