In an effort to maintain my current rate of one blog a month, I’m feeling the need to say something worthwhile before Thursday. It’ll be a challenge: not because I have nothing to say, but because my mind has been abuzz with activity of late, and I could happily write about quite a few things.
I was initially planning to run with a bit of an examination of authenticity in music, taking Ellie Goulding as a bit of a case study. She’s got a voice that sits comfortably in the ‘quirky folk’ camp - comparisons have been made with Bon Iver, Joanna Newsom, Florence and the Machine and Bjork - and yet the slick production of her debut album leaves her with a much more polished, ‘poppy’ sound than any of her folk contemporaries. Looking at her acoustic performances alongside her live electric shows - complete with sequenced backing tracks - I think it’s clear that the production disguises her incredible voice and talent with layers of synth hooks and sequenced drums, and she suffers because of it. It’s this trade-off, however, that has made her so commercially marketable. Who wins? Artistic integrity or money? Do synths and sequencing, by nature, invalidate any authenticity? You decide. I can’t make up my mind.
I’ll leave it there for now, but tomorrow may well bring another blog - something hopefully a little more personal, insightful and interesting. I have the words, I just need to put them in order.
Watch this space.
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