"Tadoussac" by Ellie Gowers

There are plenty of excellent songs celebrating specific places and a lot evoking the feelings inspired by being in them. Ellie Gowers in her new single "Tadoussac" (out this morning though you may have already heard it played on BBC Radio 2) characteristically takes one, goes down both routes and then uses them for  metaphysical jumping off points all of her own.

In fact, during my own reflective process of writing this review, it occurred to me that one mark of an artist working at the level Ellie is obviously doing is that you can get some idea (but never the complete picture) of how the writer's train of thought is going: they aren't stuck on one level and if in addition they have the level of imagination Ellie clearly has, that trajectory can lead to some really unexpected places via routes which aren't obviously linear.

Spoiler alert: in the case of "Tadoussac" that is a transition from the sublimely descriptive via the figurative to a meditation upon letting things go & moving on with your life (which includes summer romances). It's conceptually quite a journey. But she's written this type of song for a long time now & just gets better and better at this fascinating approach: and I speak as one who has frequently in the past studied her songs, followed her along the path she's led us along & failed to grasp the full implications. But the exploration of course is part of the joy of engaging with new songs and who would want to grasp the "meaning" of one on the first play? (OK I know that the entire current corporate music business is devoted to churning out material which spills all its secrets instantly, but I know the readers of this piece require more & appreciate more.)

Of course Ellie's consummate command of allusive lyrics  serves to encrypt some of the personal mysteries embedded in her songs still further but I imagine she feels that her ideal audience relishes locating and deciphering as part of the pleasure of listening to each song.

All this sounds very carefully calculated and I'm sure Ellie honed the composition to perfection. However it's worth saying that to balance this, the freshness you'll hear in the recording is due to the basic track not just being a first take but one which those playing on assumed was just a soundcheck. You can't beat that spirit of spontaneity for fostering the authenticity.

Which leads me onto my next point: another indicator of greatness is when artists write songs which are so strong that they work as well in varying arrangements. Occasionally, as with "The Stars Are Ours", Ellie actually releases multiple variations but otherwise, the version you will usually hear live is simpler than the one on record, yet both have their complementary qualities. I've only ever heard "Tadoussac" played live with just Ellie's voice & guitar, but here you can enjoy the various embellishments of a bass guitar, played by Samuel Fox, drums by Simon Small, keyboards courtesy of Tim Bradshaw, Holly Brandon on fiddle & some lap steel (that would be Samuel again).

And this is definitely a good place to give credit to all the others involved: starting with producer Steve Osborne  and engineer Patrick Phillips. It was mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road Studios which gives me quite a thrill to find myself writing.

And this is not the end of the good news as ‘Tadoussac' is also the harbinger of her next album: look out for that in Spring 2027.

Ellie has a national tour coming up too: you can see her at Portsmouth Guildhall on November 5^th, the Phoenix in Exeter on November 7^th, the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham on November 18^th , Liverpool Philharmonic on the 19^th, Sheffield Greystones on the 23^rd, The Junction in Cambridge on the 25th and The Grace in London on the 26^th.