Ella Raphael releases her debut ‘Mad Sometimes’ on 18th October on Fire Records. Out today, you can listen to new single ‘Let The Light In’ ahead of the album’s release and Ella’s London live date on September 22nd with Viv Albertine (In Converstation) at The George Tavern.
“‘If you hold sand too tightly in your hand it will run through your fingers.’ Joni Mitchell wrote in a telegram to Graham Nash from Crete. I heard this on a podcast and couldn’t relate more. This song explores freedom and independence within a relationship and how it can be suffocated by ‘love’. How something expanding like growth and love can easily become controlling and suffocating when fear is in the front seat.” Ella Raphael
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 Ribeiro and Alpes, the original masters of Tropicalia, exotic 50s guitars and the more esoteric sounds of the Beatles.
“An astonishing voice… her songs that are at once painful and brittle, then exhilarating” FIP
Wooed by the symbolism of time and place, inspired by the movies of Pedro Almodovar, Vincent Gallo and 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.
“Subtly cinematic” KLOF
‘Mad Sometimes’ intriguing sound comes from a stylish mix of lap steel, mandolin, guiro, congas, synthesisers, a shruti box and stringed instruments played by Ella, Eyal Samson, Uzi Ramirez, Ron Ephrati, Guy Mintus and Amir Sadot.
“Sonorous vocals and rich Tropicalia instrumentation detail loss and fulfilment” Norman Records
“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
UK LIVE DATE
22 Sep: The George Tavern, w/ Viv Albertine (In Conversation), Nina Winder-lind, Weaving in Purgatory
Tickets
Ella Raphael’s debut album ‘Mad Sometimes’ is out 18th October. Available for pre-order in Limited Edition Gold Vinyl & CD.
