Kate Ellis’s Spirals Vinyl Album Launch Review
Monday night saw the vinyl album launch for Kate Ellis’s Spirals, an album that certainly deserves a place on your turntable. The event took place at the Green Note in Camden, one of the most coveted intimate venues in the capital and the perfect venue for such an event.
The evening was divided into two parts, which whether it was meant to or not, gave the feeling of listening to a vinyl album – at the end of the first part of the evening (side one), there was a 15 minute break before embarking on the second half (side two). Most of the evening was obviously concentrated on Kate’s Spirals album, with a couple of covers and tracks from her breakthrough 2017 album Carve Me Out.
Kate Ellis brings a warmth to any venue, her emotive and melodic vocals being able to paint a picture with every line. This was totally evident from the very first song – opening with ‘Can’t Not‘, the very song that kicks off Spirals. Early on you wondered if the album was going to be played through in order, with the intoxicating Bluebirds and Rye and the clever and thoughful Another Way following (a song written about her father). Scars followed, which raised the tempo, before the incredible Wonderland with the singer’s heart breaking about what we are doing to the planet. Spirals was introduced as a marmite song (we love it!) before the first half ended with the beautiful Carve Me Out, a song written the day after Kate’s mother passed away.
During the break it was time to take stock and head to the bar, and there was a real warmth around the venue, Kate and her excellent band engendering an atmosphere that was a perfect fit for the venue and the flickering candles on the tables. There’s almost a timeless quality about Kate’s music that had me looking around the equally timeless venue and realising it was a perfect match.
The second half began with the brilliantly picturesque I Am The Tree. followed by Other Side of the Street, a song we recently described as one that ‘touches on the subject of heartbreak, but remains upbeat throughout, giving it that rare quality of sadness while maintaining an invigorating feel’. Wolf is one of my personal favourites from Spirals, a brilliantly melodic tune and this was followed by ‘I Believe‘ another track from her debut album that propelled Kate into the spotlight.
The first cover of the evening was a sumptuous rendition of ‘Hurt‘, perhaps best known as a Johnny Cash song, originally recorded by the Nine Inch Nails. Fittingly, the last song of the set is the song that perfectly ends the album, The Story You’ve Been Told – a song that completes the record with a gorgeous uplifting tilt.
The packed Green Note audience weren’t going to allow Kate and the band to leave without an encore, the band performing a fantastic cover of ‘Speed of the Sound of Loneliness‘ recorded by John Prine and Nanci Griffith.
If you were looking for the perfect Monday night in London, Kate Ellis provided it last night. A great night of literally savouring the music with a fantastically attentive audience – an evening of all killer and no filler. Kate was born in Louisiana, raised in New York and right now we are incredibly lucky to have her in London.
Kate’s Band:
Andy Hobsbawm – Guitars/Backing Vocals
Joseph Paxton – Fiddle and Melodica
Nick Ereaut – Stand-up bass, Piano and Backing Vocals
For a copy of Kate’s album on vinyl, visit her shop here
Review written by Nick Cantwell (instagram.com/nickcantwellmanagement)
