INTERVIEW - Sunday Girl

The music video for your song Stop Hey is very stylish and you were also named Vogue.com’s ‘one to watch’ - is the visual aspect of your music important to you?

I love looking stylish and dressing up so the video was great fun to film.  I like coming up with cool visual themes to go along with my music, so for this video I went with the idea of ‘superstition’ and had lots of umbrellas open indoors.

Are the 80s a big influence on you?  You covered Laura Branigan’s big 1984 hit Self Control.

I wouldn’t say so in particular, it’s just a song I always really enjoy playing live – I do a cover of Ke$ha’s Tik Tok too and they both get a great response from the crowd!

There are a lot of strong, female singers around at the moment; did you feel you consciously had to make your own stamp on the scene?

You’ve got to be unique – Everyone’s the same otherwise and it’s boring. I’m just myself.

You played a load of festivals over the summer; how does that compare to the smaller, more intimate venues you’ve played on Ellie Goulding’s tour?

I prefer smaller venues like this as it’s dark and more atmospheric.  It really ties in well with my music and I think the audience get a sense of that too.  You get a really great vibe going.

You have an internet blog that you post updates on – Do you think it’s important to keep in contact with your fans in this way?

Definitely!  It’s great to get feedback from fans and I really enjoy doing the blog.  I haven’t had as much of a chance recently because of being so busy with the tour, but I’ve got loads of stuff to add to it now, which will be fun!

Do you feel having a career in music has changed you in any way as a person?

I feel more confident as an artist; a lot braver.  I’ve got a motto that is ‘If you don’t try, you don’t get’, and it’s true.  You’ve just got to keep trying and you get more and more confident in yourself, especially when you’re doing something you enjoy.  In your dreams, you can do anything you want, so why shouldn’t this be true in real life too.

In this age of downloads and people cherry-picking individual songs, is it still important to put a consistent album together as a complete body of work?

I still love listening to albums as a whole – I think it really gets the artist’s message across in a way individual songs can’t do as much.

Is there one song in the history of music that you wish you had written yourself?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one!  I think something by Beyonce, Kelis or Kanye West – I love them!  Whenever I listen to their tracks I just think wow!

Stop Hey is released January 11^th 2011.

Ellie Goulding - Live at the Reading Hexagon

Ellie Goulding

26^th November 2010

Reading Hexagon

Ellie Goulding really is the success story of the year and tonight’s gig is the affirmation of that success.  “We love you Ellie!” scream various members of the crowd, working themselves into a frenzy as the cheery, young songstress works her way through the hits of her brilliant No. 1 album Lights.  Pounding out a drum beat herself to the opening bars of the dancey, seductive Under The Sheets, Ellie even manages to work in a little dancing too.

There’s a real sense of a bond between singer and audience here, playing off each-other’s energy.  For many of the songs Ellie plays acoustic guitar, and her vocals are always note perfect.  Her talent is undeniable, and even better, she comes with bucketloads of charm too – between songs Ellie chats to the audience, almost not quite able to believe everyone in the room is there for her.  From the sweet balladry of The Writer to her fantastic cover of Elton John’s Your Song, (currently doing the rounds on John Lewis TV adverts) all eyes are on her.

Come the gig’s triumphant finale, the crowd’s voices fill the Hexagon, singing along to the dreamy Starry Eyed as Ellie cries “I’m feeling sexy, let’s move!”  All this contributes to a new, more glossy, more confident Ellie Goulding.  When I saw her play the Shepherd’s Bush Empire back in the summer, her fame was still very much in the ascendency – she was the rising star.  But now, coming to the end of a full UK tour, we have the complete, fully fledged star.  And she’s amazing.

Kilto Take

Kilto Take are one of those new artists that have you hooked from the off, the skill and musicianship of this three-piece evident right away as you dive into the dark, glossy immaculateness of their music. Tracks like the brilliant Retrogress see them at their best; high-tempo, frenetic guitars, a brilliant chorus and an atmospheric production gloss that immediately impresses.

Imagine a perfect blend of early 80s post-punk with the modern innovation of its successors like White Lies and Interpol. It’s intelligent music for an audience bored of the endless cheap Libertines clones of a few years ago. And Kilto Take’s killer edge? They deliver every time. Ava is another brilliant slice of the band’s sound, razor sharp guitar solos painting pictures of grim, urban landscapes on a cinematic scale.

Lead singer Jon Crosby’s vocals ring clear and true above the immaculate guitar lines. Bringing to mind touches of Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and Muse’s Matt Bellamy, they capture that same awe-inspiring theatrical edge, adding an epic quality to the band’s tracks. There’s a luxurious power to these songs that simply isn’t present in so many up and coming rock bands. Kilto Take are a band for who wear their ambition clearly on their sleeve, and the music is all the stronger for it.

Check out the band's music on their MySpace page here.

You can download their debut EP on iTunes here.