New Music

Jim Carroll's future sounds

Ellie Goulding: one to watch

If there was one constant in the New Music dispatches in 2009, it was AR folks raving about Ellie Goulding’s voice and songs.

There's plenty of magic in this lass's crackling quiver, and her songs, such as her debut single In the Sheets(for the on-point Neon Gold label), are worth their weight in gold. Is she going to be "The One" topping those tips-for-2010 polls in a few weeks? Yep, it looks like it.

Born in Hereford, Goulding started singing and playing guitar when she was 15 years old. Her first tune was called Us Aloneand "it was probably the worst song in the world but you've got to start somewhere", she says, "it was proper cringe".

By 2007 and Goulding was in the process of dropping out of a drama degree at the University of Kent. She was playing in a college talent show and was spotted by her future manager.

On the back of that interest, Goulding decided to get serious about writing songs and hunted down some collaborators. She worked with Frankmusik’s Vincent Frank and dubstep don Burial before hooking up, via MySpace naturally, with Starsmith. Together, Goulding and Starsmith have hit the jackpot, producing electronic pop tracks which possess a fantastic magnetic appeal.

When she's not penning tracks of her own, Goulding is showing just how soulful Passion Pit's Sleepyhead, Bon Iver's Wolves and Midlake's Roscoecan be.

With Under the Sheetscausing a stir, Goulding is putting the finishing touches to her debut album in-between doing shows with Little Boots and Florence The Machine. Expect her to be the one topping those bills in the coming year.

Ellie Goulding plays Dublin’s Olympia on March 13 as support to Passion Pit www.myspace.com/ elliegoulding

Stornoway:  is there a doctor in the band?

Should their wide-eyed folky pop and shining shanties ever fall out of favour, Stornoway’s quintet of troubadours have some big-brain “other stuff” to rely on to pay the bills.

Frontman Dr Brian Briggs is a qualified ecologist with a doctorate in ducks; keyboard and strings dude Jonathan Ouin is a part-time Russian translator; and there is also a medical doctor in their ranks.

Yet it’s highly likely that the band from Oxford, named after a remote island in the Outer Hebrides, will be forsaking their proper jobs for quite some time.

A recent appearance on Later with Jools Hollandtopped a year which also saw them play at Glastonbury and release the fantastic Zorbingsingle. Trivia fans should note that the latter was also probably the only single released in '09 referencing that sport where you "do a Wayne Coyne" and roll down a hill in a big plastic bubble.

Zorbing,though, is just the tip of the iceberg. Stornoway have plenty more tunes with soaring melodies, rousing choruses and melancholic airs to come.

You’ll be humming along with them over and over again in the coming months.

www.myspace.com/stornoway

Three more

DAWES:Twangtastic folk rock from Californian four-piece with a solid grasp on how to write the perfect tune. Debut album North Hills is full of 'em.

www.myspace.com/dawestheband

LOLENE:One of a dozen ladies about to have the "new Lady Gaga" title foisted on them. The Bristol native's Electrick Hotel album is released in early 2010.

www.myspace.com/lolenelolene

THE SANDWITCHES:All-girl San Francisco trio making kooky, lo-fi, Americana-tipped retro pop as seen on their How to Make Ambient Sadcake album.

www.myspace.com/thesandwitches