Ella Raphael is blessed with an amazing voice; a woozy, bluesy, euphoric sound that’s filled with warmth and emotion; it’s engaging, like an old friend telling tales and spinning stories. Brought up on Elvis and Ella Fitzgerald, with her travels adding The Shirelles, Julee Cruise, Serge Gainsbourg and Karen Dalton (to whom her lilting vocal occasionally recalls).
Following the loss of her father in 2021, she dug deep, framing the times and events, weaving her songs through a spiral of dark sadness before traveling north to the urban city of Haifa, with its underground music scene, in the shadow of Mount Carmel.
A magnificent modern classic, Ella Raphael delivers a deeply personal, poignant vignette with warmth and emotion on her debut single ‘See You Through’.
“It was written in a period of profound sadness. A song of warm support to hold someone, as well as the understanding of letting go.” Adds Ella
Wooed by the symbolism of time and place, inspired by Jodorowsky and Godard, she began assimilating it all into her own songs. Often found 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.
“I very much connect to what the poet Mark Strand says about music: ‘The creative force best capable of giving voice and shape to our most ineffable experiences and most layered longings, of containing them and expanding them at once. It is our supreme language for the exhilaration of being alive.”
Ella Raphael releases her first single ‘See You Through’ on 7th November via Fire Records.
