The Quietest Explosion

"Explosions" is one of the stranger tracks on Ellie Goulding’s Halcyon—strange because it barely moves. The title promises something detonating and instead delivers this slow, minimal thing, her voice mostly alone against almost nothing, building so gradually you don’t notice it happening until it already has. It’s the kind of song that works better at two in the morning than at noon, when you’re tired enough to stop resisting whatever it’s trying to do to you.