Ellie Goulding: Higher than Heaven – Joyful escapism and gratifying, dependable pop

She has done upbeat, downbeat and cerebral, but for her fifth album Ellie Goulding simply wanted to get back to her roots. Higher than Heaven is, she says, an unapologetically straightforward pop album.

There have been big developments in the thirtysomething’s personal life in recent years, not least the pandemic causing her to realign her career, so you might imagine that her marriage and the birth of her son mean weighty rumination is woven through these lyrics.

Not so: this is an album of joyful escapism, as heard on songs like the glimmering disco-influenced strut of Midnight Dreams or the zooming, danceable synthpop of Cure for Love, an anthem for independence (“Here’s to being lonely”).

There are nods to the 1980s on Like a Saviour and Easy Lover, which features the rapper Big Sean; the Latin/tropical pop shuffle of Let It Die is unexpected, while the atmospheric after-hours love song By the End of the Night evokes The Weeknd.

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Lyrics may be less of a focus here, but there are certainly a few ear-catching ones, such as the brazen ode to carnality that is Waiting for It (“I’ve been reconditioned into new positions”). The album’s closing track, How Long, all woozy slo-mo effects and glitchy beats, hints at the possibilities Goulding could plunder next. It would have been nice to hear her take a few more risks here, but this is still a gratifying, dependable pop record.