“Oh, the beauty of it, how to deal with it? How to meet it?” I can’t help but think of this quote by Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard while writing about the new Irish singer-songwriter Dove Ellis, more specifically his Blizzard single “Pale Song.”
Where were you when you first heard “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” by Radiohead? I don’t remember if I was struck by its beauty upon the first listen or if it took some time, but now I can’t listen to it without getting full-body chills. I do know, however, where I was when I first heard “Pale Song,” whose lush guitars and warbly vocals have a striking resemblance to “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi,” and whose effect is no less powerful. I immediately knew that once “Pale Song” was over, I would play it again; before it even ended, I was eager to press repeat, like I couldn’t wait any longer, even though the song was still going. It’s the kind of beauty that leaves you breathless, unable to grasp the magnitude of it. How to deal with it? How to meet it? Sometimes all you can do is be astonished, and almost frustrated in your astonishment.
The chords that open “Pale Song” are akin to the soft ripples of a lake, and Ellis’ voice is like a seagull coasting a breeze overhead. “Pale Song” was only his second release ever, which is absurd. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 22-year-old artist, born in the seaside city Galway, would stand on the cliffs and look out over the Atlantic. “There was always something wondrous about it,” he said of the body of water. Wonder is laced in these songs, which are as untamed and hypnotic as the ocean. Listening to the slow glide of the guitars in “Pale Song” is like watching the sun glimmer on waves — it’s mesmerizing, and you get the sense that you’re witnessing a fleeting moment of revelation.
But “Pale Song” is just one track on Blizzard, an album brimming with shattering beauty. It’s inevitable that the other songs should be beautiful as well; his voice has been compared to Rufus Wainwright’s and Jeff Buckley’s, but I truly can’t get past the Thom Yorke-ness of it all — in any context, he sounds fragile and intimate, and when he breaks out into a falsetto it’s like a knife to the heart. It’s a jarringly mature voice to emerge from a 22-year-old, and he takes advantage of it on the sparse ballad “Feathers, Cash.” You don’t need to know what he’s saying, because the way he wields each note is devastating.
The lyrics are mostly poetic, but I do have a bone to pick with him for the “Love Is” hook: “Love is not the antidote to all your problems,” he sings over and over. It would come across as corny if his voice and the stunning viola, saxophone, and other instruments didn’t sweep you up into its warm embrace — you just can’t be mad. I don’t like music that has a straightforward message, but “Love Is” is less about the message than it is about the sonic openness, the sense of pure relief that comes with the realization that love cannot set you free. Even brighter is “Heaven Has No Wings,” an ecstatic, fertile paean with jovial piano that works as a declaration of joy. Ellis is charismatic and commanding, like a preacher giving an animated sermon.
Blizzard is a dizzyingly gorgeous debut from an artist who seemingly came out nowhere. He just opened up a bunch of shows for indie rock it-band Geese, and now it might be time for him to take over Cameron Winter’s it-boy status. There’s a chance he might put Thom Yorke out of business, too. Watch your back, indie rock dudes.
Blizzard is out 12/5 via Black Butter/AMF Records.
Other albums of note out this week:
• redveil’s sankofa
• TEED’s Always With Me
• Anna Of The North’s Girl In A Bottle
• Melody’s Echo Chamber’s Unclouded
• Unidad Ideológica’sChoque Asimétrico
• Roddy Ricch’s The Navy Album
• Caution’s Peripheral Vision
• Lil Baby’s The Leaks
• St. Lucia’s Fata Morgana: Dusk
• Retail Drugs’ Factory Reset
• Isobel Waller-Bridge’sObjects
• Tom Smith’s There Is Nothing In The Dark That Isn’t There In The Light
• Zac Brown Band’s Love & Fear
• Nick & June’s New Year’s Face
• Joanna’s Hello Flower
• Jutes’ Dilworth
• Infinite Coles’ SweetFace Killah
• Lettuce’s Cook
• Ólöf Arnalds’ SpÃra
• Kira Metcalf’s Lessons In Majestic Humiliation
• Tutafarel’s Monte Casanova
• Ryan Charles’ Jiggy Buckaroo
• Various Artists’ Passages: Artists In Solidarity With Immigrants, Refugees, And Asylum Seekers
• The Sha La Das’ Your Picture
• Subtronics’ FIBONACCI
• HTRK’s String Of Hearts (Songs Of HTRK)
• HAYWARDxDÄLEK’s HAYWARDxDÄLEK
• Voices From The Lake’s II
• Zeelie Brown’s the apocalypse is not the end but the unveiling
• Out Of/Into’s Motion II
• Ben Marc’s Who Cares Wins
• BHAVI’s NO TE ENAMORES DE UN ARTISTA
• Port Ross’ Nighttime At Gardner Hall
• Manizeh Rimer’s Mahku
• Twanguero’s Christmas With El Twanguero
• Upon A Burning Body’s Blood Of The Bull
• Anne Imhof’s Wish You Were Gay
• Kronos Quartet’s Forgive Us For
• Karri’s SLIDER II
• Essvus’ What Ails You
• The Deep’s KPOP B!TCH
• Shallipopi’s Auracle
• John Powell & Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked: For Good (Original Motion Picture Score)
• Jeremy Allen White’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Soundtrack
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ Live God
• DIIV’s Boiled Alive Live Album
• Protomartyr’s Pin Eyes Under The Alder Live Album
• Depeche Mode’s DEPECHE MODE: M
• MC50’s 10 More Live Album
• Warren Zevon’s Epilogue: Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival
• Crumb’s Live!
• Long Distance Calling’s Live At Lichtburg
• NOFX’s A To H Compilation
• JADE’s THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE
• Sting’s The Last Ship (Expanded Edition)
• The Hold Steady’s Separation Sunday (20-Year Anniversary Edition)
• O.A.R.’s Stories Of A Stranger (20th Anniversary Edition)
• Annie DiRusso’s Super Pedestrian (Deluxe)
• SAILORR’s FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST DELU/XXX [for my delusional ex]
• Daily J’s Scatterbrains (Deluxe)
• Sam Fender’s People Watching (Deluxe)
• Disiniblud’s Disiniblud (Remixes)
• The Wombats’ Oh! The Ocean (Deluxe)• Milk & Bone’sA Little Lucky EP
• The Early’s Cusp EP
• Izzy Camina’s Neptune Mood EP
• Fashion Brigade’s Annie, I Wish You’d Quit Drinking EP
• Yim Siwan’s The Reason EP
• Confidence Man’s Active Scenes Vol One EP
• Meet Me @ The Altar’s Worried Sick EP
• Lemondaze’s subtext EP
