Ellen and the Escapades is the latest act to win Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent competition, with judge and Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis describing the folk pop band as “a very clear winner.”
It’s praise indeed from one of the most influential men in UK music, that is until you stop and realise that Eavis’s headline choices for Glastonbury have included Coldplay. Even more disturbingly Scouting For Girls is among the previous winners of this competition.
Listening to Of All The Times, the debut four track EP from Ellen and the Escapades, it is easy to see why Eavis has been so entranced. The music has glimpses of Americana, especially on the EP’s standout track for me ‘This Ace I’ve Burned’, while being rooted in British folk. Also lead singer Ellen Smith’s Yorkshire accented vocals are wonderful and distinctive.
Ellen and the Escapades
The band are often compared to Mumford and Sons, and quite rightly so. Each of the four tracks are warm, full of classy musicianship and feature beautiful vocals from Smith but are very much in the Mumford mould in that they show a band playing it safe.
‘This Ace I’ve Burned,’ is perhaps the least commercial, which makes it the stand out for me. Like a Yorkshire Western it reminds me of Canadian Americana acts like Po Girl and The Be Good Tanyas and appeals far more than the upbeat Mumford-esque opener ‘Preying On Your Mind’
‘Yours To Keep’ is pleasant enough, but after a few listens I found myself skipping it to get to the far more atmospheric ‘Coming Back Home.’
The Mumford comparison is one they don’t even mind, according to a recent interview with the Yorkshire Post. That’s a shame as Ellen and the Escapades have the genuine promise of being a fantastic band. Marketing and finance departments in music will no doubt dictate they go where the money is, which is currently firmly in the suitcases of Mumford and Sons rather than in the bags of acts such as Po Girl and another inspiring act from the UK folk scene The Unthanks.
If the band are happy to be like a female fronted version of Mumford and Sons fair enough, but I hope they don’t. My colleague at Neon Filler refers to Mumford and Sons as “like Coldplay with a banjo.” Surely no one should aspire to that.
7/10
Joe Lepper
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You hope they don’t aspire to be like mumford and sons or coldplay??! you hope they don’t aspire to be succesful and known around the world… all bands aspire for success….even the ones you mention… if you didn’t aspire for success then you may as well just play for your friends in the local pub.
A nice review in parts but laced with indie snobbery.
It’s a great EP and they are a fantastic live band.
I wish them every success and hope they headline festivals, have sell out tours and sell millions of records. But I hope they achieve that by being good and not by churning out mundane meaningless lift music twaddle like Coldplay or mundane meaningless lift music twaddle with a banjo like Mumford and Sons. It is possible to be successful without sounding appalling. Apologies if that wasn’t clear.