Watching Ellen Beth Abdi brought the words ‘wow, wow, wow’, to mind. ‘Great!’ you might think, but the issue with this phrase for me was it was the opening words to a house sale listing which for whatever reason has stuck in my memory for many years.
Now no writer who respects themselves will ever admit to having taken inspiration from the words of an estate agent. And you might well ask why I’ve even admitted to this. But I don’t get paid for this so fuck it here goes nothing.
So there I was, the inescapable thought of ‘wow, wow, wow’ in my head as I found myself in standing in a buzzing atmosphere at Night & Day on a rainy Tuesday evening having swiftly dived headlong into the self-confessed ‘chaos’ of the world of Ellen Beth Abdi. Her name was familiar to me having seen it on line ups of the like of Manchester Jazz Festival and Salford’s Sounds from the Other City in recent months. But I’d only first heard her music the Friday before thanks to the promotion of her brand new self-titled album and this very launch party thanks to emails from Piccadilly Records. And there I was, only a few whirlwind days later, privileged to be at that very event, recalling those estate agent’s words in my mind once again, ‘wow, wow, wow’.
So what wowed me?
By now I shouldn’t be still be impressed by loops. Fortunately Ellen is the post-Sheeran saviour of the technique, live layering one, two, three, four, five and I think, six-part, before I lost count, harmonies live with no room for mistakes (save for the microphone gremlins, that sent her into hysterics, butt were professionally dealt with by the venue’s sound crew). ‘The Bad Dream’ was something to behold.
We learned, thanks to Ellen’s entertaining between song chatter and back and forth with the crowd, peppered with her friends, family, musical collaborators, ‘gobshites’ (‘it takes one to know one’) and new found fans like me, that ‘Who This World Is Made For’ is, ‘the hit’ according to her Dad who was also present.
With no context, ‘Kingsway Bouquets’ feels like an odd track on the album with its lounge bossa nova style. The simple story behind the song, being drunk on the bus and picking roadside flowers for someone only to realise they were dead weeds the next morning, is all that’s needed to understand it. It’s funny and relatable, as is the personality that shines from Ellen between every song.
It was a short set (perfectly ok for an artist who has just released their debut album), including a guest appearance from support act Beck Pocket, and I could list a ‘wow’ from every song. Instead, I’ll spare you by saying that ‘Thickskinpeel’, ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Problem Child’ were all brilliant performances too, and I felt very lucky to have made it along to see Ellen on only day 5 of my fandom. As a proud Manc who is keen to support local independent venues, I’m sure she’ll be back again soon. And when she is, I urge you to join me.
Words by James Spearing
Picky Bastards 