Ego Ella May
FIELDNOTES PT II EP
Self-released
Buy via Bandcamp | Listen Below
There’s an old football adage that you buy new (and better) players when you are doing well. With no time to dwell on success and with the pack of pursuing teams snapping and snarling at your heels, strengthening just after a success is the best way to ensure that success continues.
This strategy could be equally applied to Ego Ella May’s musical fortunes. Since her hugely impressive debut album Honey For Wounds dropped in 2020, she has issued a steady stream of quality EPs and singles, capitalizing on her elevated profile and demonstrating a growing repertoire of subtle variations of style.
The latest of these is the new release FIELDNOTES PT II, which comes just five months after the first installment on International Women’s Day and finds her, yet again, in fine form. “Beautiful Days” is neo-soul through and through—a tougher-than-you-think groove from drums and bass, the delicious guitar and lush Fender Rhodes-sounding keys all contribute to a heady brew that recalls the early days of a bliss-filled new relationship.
Indeed, the EP is designed to follow the life cycle of the artist’s love life, re-treading the ups, downs and the seemingly all-too predictable demises of her relationships. Once the first flush of love is detailed, so single “Introvert Hotline” with its winning bass line takes over to detail a strain on the burgeoning relationship. When May opens “Centred” with the line “I said I don’t play love songs but I will tonight / there’s a stirring here that can’t be denied,” it is clear there’s only one thing on her mind and the sultry song undulates seductively on the sea of her dulcet tones.
By the time “Why?” sidles into earshot with its delicious backing vocals, things have taken a turn for the worst, with the opening line declaring “Why do I seem to always make the same mistakes? / Thinking you could care for me?”
The world-weary delivery of the lyrics allied to the brushes making an appearance on the drums and the gorgeous musings of the guitar lend a decidedly jazzy air to proceedings. The EP finishes with a song of true beauty—“for the both of us” finds May ruing the end of a relationship and singing about keeping the shared dreams the couple once had alive by herself. Subtle strings, flourishes of woodwind and her impeccable voice create the most beautiful concoction—the best of her career so far.
Holding it all together is May’s delightful voice which manages to sound both disconnected and warm simultaneously. There’s a feeling that however ok with things she attempts to be, there is a bubbling well of disappointment beneath it all. That she conveys this contrast in her delicious tone is key to the success of her work—success that seems assured if she continues to turn out material like this.
BUYFIELDNOTES PT II via Bandcamp
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