The young Swede Ellen Krauss has turned up in these pages previously as she has successively released tracks from her new EP 'Pearl' which came out on the same day as this new single 'New York' - July 17th.
I won’t go over the 19-year-old’s achievements again (you can read those in the review of her ‘Silver Spoon’ single), just to say that there are two main factors to take into account when she comes up with something new – the style and quality of the song, and her vocal delivery.
The first song of hers that I heard didn’t endear me to her but the second definitely did and since then she has acquired a consistency that has persisted through the various styles that she employs. While this one, ‘New York’ is light and upbeat, so was the previous, one, ‘Bali’ and that appears to be her go-to mode now. In fact you could classify most of her songs that way.
Regarding vocal delivery, she excels when she’s able to sing in a country and western style and to a degree she does that on this one. He has the ability to deliver a rapid change of pace and volume at the same time, better than anyone else I can immediately think of.
Singing a song about New York is a brave move, too. That space is filled with plenty of predecessors, from Frank Sinatra to Ed Sheeran. The number of songs simply called just ‘New York’ before hers runs to 74 and other artists that have recorded their tribute to the Big Apple include Alicia Keys, the Bay City Rollers (!), Lady Gaga, Paloma Faith, Richard Ashcroft, the Sex Pistols, Snow Patrol, St Vincent and U2. Good company to keep, but only if the standard is high.
She says, "'New York' is about dreaming and following your passion. The song is quite cocky, but that’s okay. It’s alright to be proud and think big sometimes." That’s my girl.
The new five-track EP features previously released singles ‘Bali’, ‘No Talk’ and ‘Silver Spoon’, as well as lead single ‘New York’ and the previously unheard cut ‘Often’.
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