Ella Thompson – Cocoon/Dawn

The voice of Ella Thompson has been a fundamental part of Naarm’s soul and funk history. She has toured and recorded with funk pioneers The Bamboos, lit up dancefloors with electronic duo GL and won hearts and minds across Australia with indie cult favourites Dorsal Fins. Ella now returns to her soul roots and releasing music under her own name with a brand new EP ‘Cocoon/Dawn’, a dreamy collection of contemporary soul songs featuring both studio versions and live recordings. The EP’s three studio cuts were produced in Ella’s home studio in collaboration with multi instrumentalist Liam McGorry and the EP also includes two live recordings by Ella’s brand new band, recorded at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The two approaches form a cohesive whole and the EP showcases Ella’s iconic soul informed voice and her considerable songwriting talents.

The EP opens with recent single ‘Cool Down My Heart’, an uplifting soul/pop track which has garnered attention from Double J, RRR, 2SER, PBS and Bandcamp. The lush ‘Lost’ follows, ethereal yet still capturing the classic soul horns and guitar chanks synonymous with the genre. A head nodding bassline introduces us to ‘Shining Star’, a funky downtempo tune which showcases rich harmonies and an ear worm of a chorus. All three studio cuts feature Hudson Whitlock on drums, Will Morrisey on saxophone and John Castle, Ella’s longtime collaborator on mix duties. The first of the live recordings, ‘Love In Lunacy’ has a distinctive 70’s soul/jazz flavour with warm and woody bass tones, glittering synthesizers, and an extended saxophone solo. The live ‘Cocoon/Dawn’ rounds out the EP, beginning with percussion and wistful horn section, the vocal harmonies are a highlight here as well as the incredible elasticity of Ella’s soaring voice. Listeners can get a taste for the full spectrum of Ella’s live band in a suite of beautifully shot videos from the Recital Centre performance on Youtube. The band features Alex Roper on drums, Daniel Mougerman on synths and keys, Liam McGorry on trumpet and guitar, Rita Satch and Hayley Cramer on backing vocals, Cheryl Durongpisitkul on saxophone and Clare Cross on bass.