A year ago, we had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Ego Ella May’s sparkling debut album Honey For Wounds (2020) into our lives. It revealed a blossoming talent equipped with a mighty pen, a beguiling voice and some collaborators of the highest caliber. In the intervening time, she has seen her work showcased on TV shows (Queen Sugar, for example) and picked up the MOBO award for Best Jazz Album.
It has been quite the year for the South Londoner and to mark its anniversary, an expanded deluxe version of the album arrived today. With three bonus tracks, it offers the chance for more people to become acquainted with its seductive charms. Alongside the previously available and wonderful Josette Joseph remix of “How Long ‘Til We’re Home” and an acoustic version of “Tonight I’m Drowning” is a stellar piece of work courtesy of Blue Lab Beats and Maverick Sabre.
Injecting alchemy into the blissed-out original version’s already pumping veins, they add urgency to “Give A Little” in the form of a neck-snapping snare drum and turn up the funk on the guitar lines. Maverick Sabre’s added vocals render it even more soulful, especially with the meandering Fender lines underneath them—it is a triumph.
With a UK tour slated for October (as well as Festival dates before then), now would be the time to get to know Ego Ella May in all her glory, if you haven’t had the pleasure already. And be sure to explore my original review of Honey For Wounds and my accompanying interview that revealed her to be wise beyond her years and here for the long run.
BUY Honey For Wounds (Deluxe Edition) via Bandcamp
SEE Ego Ella May live | Dates
Note: As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism may earn commissions from purchases of vinyl records, CDs and digital music featured on our site.
LISTEN: