It’s been a long time coming for Elle King since her 2012 EP but the badass chick has arrived! After touring constantly for the last couple of years with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Train and Of Monsters and Men, Elle has taken the time she needed to work on her true sound alongside music royalty Mark Ronson, Eg White and Jeff Bhasker to name a few. Now she’s back, she’s bad and she’s ready to knock your socks off!
A girl who’s lucky enough to call ‘home’ wherever her journey takes her, Elle has never been one to land her feet too firmly in one place. ‘I’ve no idea what direction to go’ she growls in ‘Song of Sorrow’, forever moving, learning, living and adventuring, this free spirit has taken her Ohio country routes of a foot stomping, banjo accompanied tune and shaken it up with some philadelphia blues and old school New York rock n roll to create her gritty, life’s what you make it kind of sound.
Good girl gone bad or a sassy confident woman who’s not afraid to speak her mind and go ‘where the devil don’t go’? Either way Elle King’s ‘got a mouth to put you in your place’ as vocalised in ‘America’s Sweetheart’ That’s exactly the point ‘I’m not America’s sweetheart but you love me anyway’ Elle highlights the fact that no one’s perfect, we all make mistakes but learn from them, grow from them, write a song about them, stop being ‘confined’ and start living like it’s the ‘Last damn night’.
She perfectly encompasses the soulfulness of Amy Winehouse with ‘Ex’s and Oh’s’, the emotional exposure of Duffy in ‘song of sorrow’ as well as the fieriness and rebellion of The Runways in ‘America’s Sweetheart’ and ‘Last damn night’, whilst still keeping that country stomping feel in ‘Where the devil don’t go’ but less Dolly Parton and more Debbie Harry! Although focussing on musical genres from times gone by, ‘Love Stuff’ is anything but dated and Elle King reminds us that the time is now and it’s certainly her time to shine!
For more of my music reviews head over to Lizzie’s Lowdown at http://www.lizzieslowdown.com/
Happy listening
Lexie
xxx