Ellie Goulding

Never likely to be one of those singers who is content just to turn up, lay down a main vocal part and leave, Ellie’s approach to writing and recording is, she admits, borderline obsessive – but then, anything less, she says, would be a waste of time.

As her debut album, Lights, made so thrillingly clear, Ellie Goulding uses her voice as a texture in much the same way that a skilled instrumentalist would. It is a sound – in Ellie’s case, an utterly distinctive and unforgettable one – that can play as important a role in her songs as any other musical detail.

The new record Halcyon describes a journey out of heartache and towards hope. It is almost as if you can hear Ellie’s psyche shrinking and then renewing, rebooting itself after two-and-a-half tumultuous years in her life: a Brit award, the release of Lights, love, loss, writer’s block, a new relationship, singing at the White House and at a certain spring wedding, a number one pop record that has done over 3m in America, confronting her doubts and fears, digging deep and locating her artistry again, returning to the countryside she grew up in and, in a converted barn, making a record that confirms her as one of this country’s most singular and compelling songwriters.

Two such fans are a young couple who, in April 2011, were married in London and, for one of the few private moments the world allowed them on the day, approached Ellie a