It’s 12 minutes past midnight and Ego Ella May’s new album just dropped. It begins with a spliced rotary organ playing four minor chords which only reach resolution once. We are transported to an experience that certainly occurred, but for us is metaphorical. Ego Ella May’s genius lies in taking the most banal of scenarios and dipping them into the well of human response. Showcasing how the overstretched heart and mind relate everything, to everything,

“That’s the most I’ve said in a while, with a genuine smile”

There seems to be an emphasis on 4 chord motifs, each evolving through intelligent drum work and unusual time signatures that are cleverly contorted by the vocal. The project is certainly Neo Soul, but the phrasing, structures and lyrics have no real equal, past or present. Track 8 ‘Science’ really showcases Ego’s strange ability to ‘talk/sing’ whole paragraphs within minimal bars.

Synthesizers have been utilized in a way quite unfamiliar to the current climate. It’s kinda like an 80’s Japanese Electronic album that starts beautifully, but then goes sorta mental and becomes distracting. If only you could have extended that one beautiful moment? You’d have this album.

I particularly enjoyed the rich acapella introductions, interludes and underbellies of this project. The tonality throughout is resolutely sombre, but the consistent use of tremolo and vibrato colour it with a comforting warmth. Smatterings of trumpet provide a gracious nod to the band’s melancholic Jazz predecessors, everyone involved is conscious of space, and yet nothing feels empty. The album is almost a defiant dance against a prevailing emptiness.

This was a project I anticipated eagerly, and I wasn’t disappointed. It is a clear but natural progression from 2019’s ‘So Far’ and I already want more.

Honey For Wounds