Nick Ellis - Daylight Ghosts

by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 3 / 2017

Label: Mellowtone Ghosts
Format: CD

Undefinable debut album from promising young Liverpool-based singer-songwriter Nick Ellis

Review

When I first started buying music, music writers had their own impenetrable language of invented genres that made sure anyone who wanted to understand who was up and who was down in the world of alternative music had to put some serious work in. But, when you went into the record shop to buy the music you’d read about, you’d find everything you wanted bundled together into a mass of ‘rock and pop’. Only the most niche genres (usually only jazz, folk and easy listening) had their own section. Now, with music sold almost exclusively online, every artists is carefully tagged with as precise a genre as possible to ensure anything you listen to immediately prompts a “You Might Also Like…”. The all-powerful algorhythm decides how we buy music now, but it doesn’t help someone like Nick Ellis. His debut full-length album ‘Daylight Ghosts’ has an easy ebb and flow that hangs together effortlessly. But he can’t help hopping between genres – making any attempt to ‘tag’ him pointless. It’s heartening, then, to find that he’s been able to find an audience at all. But this record comes off the back of a well-received EP and confirms a reputation as one of the most promising names on the Liverpool music scene. The defining feature of this record is Ellis’ guitar. He restlessly flicks between fragile fingerpicking and powerful driving rhythms, best encapsulated when the loose singalong of the single ‘Lovers in July’ gives way to the delicate instrumental of ‘Good Morning Mr Hirons’. You get the feeling that he’s happy to go wherever the song takes him. So, ‘In the Park’ finds him ‘go electric’ and could have nestled itself quite happily on a mid-90's Britpop compilation. ‘Carrilon’ has a hazy, jazz-tinged vibe that reminds you of early John Martyn. The grand opener the precise melody of ‘The Early Morning News’, meanwhile, reminds me more of Cat Stevens than any of psych-tinged bands you suspect Ellis spends most of his time listening to. Hard to categorise, then. But easy to listen to and with a high quotient of songs you’ll be shoving onto to compilations and playlists for years to come. If he can overcome the algorhythms, expect to hear much more from Nick Ellis.

Track Listing:-

1 The Grand Illusion
2 Hanging Around
3 Carillon
4 My Old Flame
5 Dance of the Cat
6 In the Park
7 A Walk Through the City
8 Lovers in July (Album Version)
9 Good Morning, Mr. Hirons
10 The Early Morning News
11 St. David's Day (Album Version)
12 Raise the Arc