Ellie Ford - The Other Sun

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 23 / 8 / 2016

---

It seems that almost every female singer-songwriter that comes along these days is placed in the ever-widening folk music genre. Even the press release for ‘The Other Sun’, the debut album from Ellie Ford, while admitting that Ellie is influenced by a range of genres, can’t resist in slipping in that she is unique in the ‘alt-folk world’. It’s obvious from ‘The Sweet Life’, the very first song on the album, that Ellie is certainly coming from a different place to most of her contemporaries, and confining her appeal to just the folk world, like so many of the current crop of female singers, is doing the singer an injustice. To get the obvious out of the way Ellie Ford’s main instruments are the harp and guitar so it’s no surprise to see certain other harp-playing female artists listed as appropriate comparisons. Don’t be waylaid into thinking that if those artists (I’m determined not to mention names as once ‘The Other Sun’ gets under your skin after, oh about all of three tracks in, it’s obvious comparisons are futile, Ellie Ford really is unique) are unappealing to you that Ellie won’t touch you either. Despite her uniqueness and the fact that the songs on ‘The Other Sun’ demand concentrated listening, it’s hardly music to play while doing the ironing. The sound that Ellie along with producer Harvey Summers have captured is beautiful and quite unlike that made by any other female singer, even those outside of the folk genre. Released via Brighton’s Hidden Trail Records label, the eleven songs are all originals written by Ellie and, although on stage Ellie is often found to be performing solo, ‘The Other Side’ is more of a band affair. Some of the songs are sparsely accompanied but if you’re thinking that Ellie’s harp and guitar skills are the only draws on ‘The Other Sun’ you’d be mistaken. It’s difficult to place Ellie vocally. She’s an emotive singer for sure but there’s warmth to her voice. There are moments on the track ‘July’ where you just want to wrap yourself in that voice, so comforting it is. When that voice is backed by violins and harp as it is on this track the effect is stunning. There are times when it sounds that her voice is going to crack because she is living through the lyrics. It really is a remarkable piece of music and an exceptional performance from all concerned. And whoever thought of following that song with the instrumental ‘Reprise’ deserves more than a pat on the back. Clarinet, harp, strings, snatches of rolling drums that could have been lifted from ‘Pet Sounds’ (having just heard that album again maybe it’s too soon to make that statement, but, no, the beauty in Brian Wilson’s instrumentals is matched here by Ellie and her band) all add to make ‘Reprise’ surely the most beautiful instrumental released this year. All too often inserting an instrumental halfway through an album disrupts the flow of the songs and is an unnecessary diversion. Here it flows beautifully and actually adds to the overall feel of the album; like Wilson’s instrumentals it takes the listener on a journey, coming in unexpectedly here as it does it has even more effect. As much as Ellie has one of the most appealing voices in music currently, more instrumentals of this calibre would be warmly received. This is followed by ‘My Bird Won’t Sing’, which is stripped-back, just Ellie’s vocal and acoustic guitar; placing such a stark performance after such a rich instrumental was a risk but again it’s a perfect move and just reinforces how talented Ellie Ford is and how she really is following her own path musically. ‘Ten Times’ really is a showcase for Ellie’s vocals. Again the main part of the song is musically sparse, although it builds to something of a mini-crescendo. With Ellie’s double-tracked vocals combined with male vocals for the last section, it’s another inspired, breathtaking performance from all concerned. ‘Don’t Tell Me Where You’re Going’ is simply gorgeous. Again defying any genre restrictions the lone baritone guitar lends a spooky, age- old feel to the song, Ellie’s almost whispered vocals take on a sultry vibe that makes its debut on this song, displaying yet another side to this versatile singer. ‘Blackout’ is the last song on the album. A male/female duet (the male is unidentified on our copy of the album), it ends the album on a positive note by leaning towards a country sing-along that is quite unlike any other song on the album. ‘The Other Sun’ is a mightily impressive album from a singer-songwriter who is truly making music original music, and deserves to be heard no matter what your musical taste may be. There’s so much variety here, so much to discover, that you can’t fail to be impressed.

Track Listing:-

1 The Sweet Life
2 The Only One
3 How Do You Know
4 Old Best
5 Homebound
6 July
7 Reprise
8 My Bird Won't Sing
9 Ten Times
10 Don't Tell Me Where You're Going
11 Blackout

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/elliefordmusic
http://www.elliefordmusic.com/
https://twitter.com/elliefordmusic
https://www.youtube.com/user/elliefordmusic
https://plus.google.com/115822781559663814636

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/HiddenTrailRecords
http://hiddentrailrecords.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/HiddenTrailRecs
http://hiddentrailrecords.bandcamp.com/

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg