Following her recent showcases at Focus Wales and The Great Escape, Ella Raphael releases her debut ‘Mad Sometimes’ out 18th October on Fire Records. You can check out ‘Tangled Love’ acoustic version out today alongside a brand new video.
‘Tangled Love’ is a noirish lament for love; a timeless moment filled with aching memories, with an Yma Sumac sub melody underpinning the sha la la la of perfect pop.
“Instead of making the song heavy, I just wanted it to be light and fun. I added some broken French and, after getting a bit tipsy in the studio, the operatic backing vocals. The lap steel makes the whole thing feel dreamy with a Tropicalia feel, it was a lot of fun being playful, it’s a skewed and upbeat soundtrack for peoples’ trauma”.
Ella Raphael is blessed with an amazing voice, filled with warmth and emotion; it’s engaging, like an old friend telling tales and spinning stories.
Brought up in London, surrounded by sound, listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James, while encountering Queen, The Beatles and the Stones from her Dad’s collection, Ella’s musical journey continued in Australia where she met many other musicians, and ended up sailing with would-be pirates, singing in the bow of their boat and deciding that music was the path for her.
A scholarship to study in Boston at Berklee College of Music was secured, but she hated its rigidity, an experience only saved by listening all day to Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘Pieces Of A Man’ album. “He was so anti institutional it was exactly what I needed, I remember being really angry, all I wanted to do was rebel; listening to the flute and congas and his words gave me a whole new perspective.”
Bored with Berklee, she took the option to carry on her studies in Valencia, Spain, adding further exotica to her vocabulary. Her travels have refined that eclectic mix, adding Love, Serge Gainsbourg, Karen Dalton (to whom her lilting vocal occasionally recalls), Vashti Bunyan, Catherine Riberio And Alpes, the original masters of Tropicalia, exotic 50s guitars and the more esoteric sounds of The Beatles.
Wooed by the symbolism of time and place, inspired by the movies of Almodovar, Vincent Gallo and Contempt (French: Le Mépris) is a 1963 French New Wave drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard she began assimilating it all into her own songs. Writing outdoors, freedom has always been a virtue to her – soaking it up – Ella penned songs that are at once aching and brittle, then elated and celebratory; she has perfected a sound that’s as wide-ranging as her influences and experiences, music that’s as beautiful as its surroundings, using the intricacies and subtle nuances of sound to channel both light and dark into her music.
“A timeless, Tropicália-tinged daydream” Gorilla VS Bear said of her single, ‘All In’. Following with the evocative ‘Tangled Love’ and aching ‘See You Through’ both of which were mixed by Ray Monde of psych-rock duo, Monde UFO and arrived with added goosebumps. This string of beautifully crafted songs continues through the summer as Ella slip slides over genres and plucks at heartstrings, all culminating in the release of her debut album, ‘Mad Sometimes’.
“The album weighs up life’s contradictions, painting a new reality as the idea of eternal love contrasts with the desire to go alone”
Ella Raphael’s debut album ‘Mad Sometimes’ is out 18th October. Available for pre-order in Limited Edition Gold Vinyl & CD.
