"A Moment" by Ellie Gowers
ReviewI am delighted to be able to bring you a great deal of excellent news from Ellie Gowers.
As you'll know from my report from her February showcase of new material & work in progress at Warwick Arts Centre, she had been working on songs of the highest calibre and taking her art into brand new directions. To some extent (and I know it posed questions from those so excited by her pre-COVID19 releases), her folk roots concept album ‘Dwelling by the Weir' and its popular & critical success blurred people's perceptions of her arc.
Of course necessity to some extent drove that lockdown created project and, in any case, I think an artist is entitled to explore a variety of facets of musical style. Now this new body of work is back towards that more contemporary sound which she was moving towards with "Against the Tide" or "The Sky is on Fire".
In fact she's already scheduled a six track EP (‘You, The Passenger' it's called) which is released in its entirety on November 24th of which today's single, "A Moment" (on Gilded Lily Records) is the first taster.
I mentioned this song to you as standing out in February in its raw, acoustic form: it's one of her Canadian compositions and it "explores the tightness of guilt when not experiencing the familiar feeling of homesickness, and instead wanting to carry on in a place where one can ignore life's problems and indulge in running away."
With Ellie, you've always had subtlety & exquisite nuance. However she's manifested these approaches to writing in a considerable variety of ways: empathy for others, details of nature and situation sit alongside "big picture" issue macro-songs like "Against the Tide", "The Sky is on Fire", Waking Up To Stone" or "The Stars Are Ours".
Since Tradfolk called her "quite literally, an all-singing, all-dancing folk polymath", such breadth in addition to her considerable depth of vision could be expected.
This time, Ellie has turned her powers towards her metaphysical interests: "A Moment" is uber-Ellie-metaphysical though one of the first things which popped into my head was her (never-released but live favourite) "For A While": a much different story, but an interesting example of how getting her head round tiny packets of time & applying mindfulness within, is not a new aspect of her thought processes.
One central duality, if not paradox, in Ellie's music has been the barely contained passion of her live performances (her Morris dancing skills perhaps being practised in all her incessant foot movements on stage) and the outright anger of some of her lyrics, co-existing with the serenity of her delivery. The latter fits well with this idea of her finding tranquillity and perspective at any given time & taken together, is an engine house for powering the tensions which create the emotional heart of her songs.
No wonder the Guardian have said of her that her work is: "full of delicacy, precision and gentle delight". That precision though can be that of stiletto when she needs it to be.
Goodness knows though how she keeps on coming up with such perfect & original melodies time after time, regardless of style. Well: that's a hallmark of the best musicians if you want one, isn't it?
If one is going to be fully accurate (which I'd like to be), this latest incarnation of Ellie (Ellie Gowers Mark III?) is driven by a number of conscious artistic decisions. Which frankly just as well for me to know, otherwise I get jammed up when I write that this is her best work yet having been so effusive (genuinely so) over her earlier work.
One is that picking back up of the thread of exploring more contemporary sounds (Mipso, Gemma Hayes and Jeff Buckley being inspirations she cites)
Another relates to moving on In terms of professional collaborations: musically with producer TJ Allen (who's worked with Bat for Lashes, Hannah Peel and Anna Calvi) and to get her music out there to as many people as possible, Absolute Label Services.
The latter builds on her quietly developing relationship with the national BBC: this includes her live session for Mark Radcliffe and her composition of music for Radio 3's production of "Middlemarch": by the time you read this, "A Moment" will have had its broadcast debut on Radio 2 on Wednesday evening: I'd guess a result of her being highly visible on their radar.
She's been touring a lot too: including internationally (as noted above) and as well as raising her profile & making contacts, like most musicians, being on the road generates songs. While many of these tend to dwell on ennui, fatigue or even poor personal morals, Ellie being that reflective writer focuses on that guilt mentioned above & generally we can expect "themes of absence, push/pull, and longing" to populate her whole EP.
The bar is bumped up quite a lot higher now isn't it?
"A Moment" is transcendental & although there is another song out there which I had "picked" as a potential single (and I know Ellie rates it really highly), this one serves as a very powerful calling card to slam down onto the table as a statement of intent: and so I see now why she's gone with this one. It asks profound questions of its composer & performer & so will challenge the listener ethically & emotionally: though not musically as it's a most beautiful song.
Ellie Gowers makes music for thinking people & feeling people & she just gets better & better at that. I've loved her work since I first heard it, but clearly she is now soaring higher in terms of her artistry.
I've long felt/hoped that Ellie would be able to take her talent to at least national audiences & think I've been predicting this since at least her ‘Parting Breath' EP (which was 2021). COVID19 scuppered that timetable but now with material this strong & with the BBC, The Guardian and a new distribution/promotion partner to help me spread the word… it could well be 2024.
If you'd like to catch Ellie live promoting ‘You, The Passenger', here are your opportunities:
27th October: Cafe #9 in Sheffield
30th October: Band on the Wall in Manchester
6th November: Acapela Studios in Cardiff
9th November: Tin Arts and Music in Coventry
15th November: The Grace in London