Album Review: Elliphant - Living Life Golden

Blissful beats and feature vocalists galore; Elliphant's latest album, Living Life Golden, really does add a bit of sparkle to life. Elliphant makes friends in fellow music makers and collaborators, and her work has risen alongside Swedish electro dynamos Jungle. Their input on Living Life Golden has made for a well rounded release, thrilling with intense bangers and lulling with smooth, glossy pop.

Elliphant, aka Ellinor Miranda Salome Olovsdotter, has a set of pipes that skip between reggae sass and silken leading warbles, with a measured dose of production on top. she is in fine form in Love Me Badder. Single Step Down is a little cleaner and she's given breathing space to shine alongside a neat little groove and sparse clicks. In betweeners like Not Ready and Player Run have a more monotonous line building beneath them. The appearance of Azaelia Banks on Everybody doesn't quite fulfil expectations, but it's bright and rhythmic. There are sunny, short and punchy synth lines, but apart from the odd F-bomb all hopes of Banks bursting in and tearing shit up are lost. Major Lazer also fails to make a big impact on Love Me Long. The underlying trance is a pretty standard structure, which rendered it a bit dated.

There's far more to be gained from listening to Elliphant take the reins. Sassy tracks with husky vocals and snappy beats, like in Thing Called Life, prove that Elliphant can more than hold her own, on her own.