In February 2011, Goulding told the Daily Star that she had plans to release a follow-up to Lights sometime in 2011, commenting, "I'm not going to go away for ages. It'll be out this year or the start of next."^[1] In April 2012, Goulding stated that she hoped the album would be released in October 2012.^[2]
Goulding wrote and co-produced all the tracks on the album in her hometown in the Hay Valley, West England.^[3] The actual recording of the tracks was completed in a converted barn with producer Jim Eliot of Kish Mauve (also known for his work with Kylie Minogue and Ladyhawke).^[3][4]
In an interview with Carson Daly on his 97.1 AMP Radio show on 6 August 2012, Goulding explained the inspiration behind the album's title, saying, "[Halcyon is] like a bird that basically during the winter, it would lay its eggs by the sea and bring calm to the stormy waters and a lot of my songs on this record are about the ocean and water."^[5] She also unveiled two songs from the album—"Only You" and the title track "Halcyon
Neil McComick of The Daily Telegraph wrote that Goulding's voice is "really something special", concluding, "[A]s luxuriously epic as Enya yet with the kind of dynamism of Florence + the Machine, Goulding's poetically opaque lyrics gain real dramatic weight. On a big, bold album, Goulding gives the expression 'singing like a bird' a whole new dimension."^[23] Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly commented that the album has "harp solos, digitally tweaked cyborg harmonies, and at least one tribute to bodily fluids ('My Blood'). But they're anchored by giant, disco-ball hooks and the type of dance beats you might find on a NOW That's What I Call Music! comp."^[24] The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson felt that the album "isn't nearly as wet as its predecessor", adding that "the main flaw of Halcyon is that it occasionally feels a bit too much—and that's something Goulding, perennially painted as the timid type, may not be so sad about