Single Review: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – ‘The Deer and The Wolf’
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Moving away from her dance floor pleasers of the last decade, Sophie Ellis-Bextor has taken a step in a drastically different direction with her latest album Wanderlust. Written with English singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, Ellis-Bextor’s fifth studio album is her highest-charting solo album since 2001’s Read My Lips. While Wanderlust showcases a completely different side to the starlet, this whimsical indie sound is not completely foreign to Ellis-Bextor, having fronted indie-rock outfit Theaudience in the late 1990s
Fourth single The Deer and The Wolf follows the release of tender ballad Young Blood, the mellow and sentimental Runaway Daydreamer, and Eastern European-influenced Love is a Camera. Ellis-Bextor uses the metaphor of the contrasting wild animals to explore the phenomenon of opposite attraction. Her quirky and cute Britpop sound is accompanied by equally charming lyrics: One waits in the dar / while the other seeks light / but they both have hearts / that break in the night.
The guitar and percussion arrangement is understated and definitely a far cry from the disco-pop sound Ellis-Bextor is most recognised for. Although The Deer and The Wolf is an endearing track, Ellis-Bextor needs to fine-tune her vocal delivery, transforming it from the detached style of disco performance to the sensitivity and sentimentality that this new folky direction demands.
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