Perfect for the season in which the days are getting shorter and colder in the northern hemisphere (at least traditionally), the nights are getting longer and all you want to do is cosy up inside with the lights down low – it’s the new LP from soul singer Ella Thompson – Ripple On The Wing. Slightly ironic then that Thompson should hail from Melbourne where, currently, the nights are getting shorter, the days longer and the temperatures are rising. Not that this isn’t equally suitable for balmy summer evenings with its mixture of cinematic soul, lowrider soul, alt-R&B and 90s trip-hop influences.
If you’ve been paying attention you’ll already be familiar with the singles – the 60s OST stylings of Let There Be Nothing and the soaring 60s soul meets 90s R&B of Omen. In fact the closest analog for a sizeable chunk of material on here is the material that Nicole Wray has been putting out since her re-invention on Big Crown Records – especially There’s A Fire Yet To Burn and Little Star. Interesting since her backing band on this include’s Big Crown signings Lachlan Stuckey & Jethro Curtin from Surprise Chef. Elsewhere things head in a lowrider direction on the dreamy Other People’s Problems and closer Don’t Be A Taurus. Well worth your time.
(Out 15 November on Hopestreet Recordings)