Kate Ellis wears her heart on her sleeve. The London based folk artist is incredibly intimate, telling stories of her life’s experiences and obstacles which allow the listener to start introspecting on their own. Her voice is delicate but assured, the kind of warm, hazy, and ethereal energy that induces such a pure catharsis in the listener no matter their struggle or position. The intricate string work she incorporates simply adds another dimension to her work, allowing the arrangements to carry the emotional engine of the songs as her vocal performance and lyrics steers it from track to track with effortless ease.
On ‘Spirals’, Ellis describes her experience as putting to song the whirlwind that is life.
‘Spirals’ is about getting lost in the maze of obstacles and pain we encounter in life – how we go around in circles inside our head, or try to get back things we can’t, or solve a pain there’s no solution to.
These ‘spirals’ that Kate describes are life’s constant conundrums. The obstacles that seem to never leave us, that we can never be relieved of. But through her work, she hopes to give people an outlet, an escape, or a method to get through them all. From a personal standpoint, ‘Spirals’ definitely gives Ellis her own outlet and method of cutting through the madness. As a listener, the album does much of the same. It has you looking back and understanding what went wrong, what went right, and how you can move forward while acknowledging where you came from.
Songs like ‘Wonderland’ have you immediately transported to something fantastical. The grandeur behind the production, the vision behind Kate’s vocals, and the vibrancy of the arrangement all combine to create something so uniquely euphoric that you start to feel and imagine the dream as something real and attainable. The harmonies on the vocals simply send the track to new heights, making it a clear folk masterpiece.
‘Spirals’ is an album to immerse yourself in and see where it takes you. In all likelihood, you’ll be for better once you do a clean listen.