Demonstrating a rare combination of musical fluency and lyrical vulnerability, Ella Mine divines and names depths of the human experience that often go unnamed, creating a hospitable space where the listener might untangle the mystery of their own emotions. Her 2020 debut record, a concept album titled Dream War, weaves a surreal and otherworldly tapestry of poetic melodies and storytelling, sifting the ruins of devastating personal experience for shimmering gems of hope. 

Ella’s distinctive voice is far-reaching and impartial to genre, incorporating a mastery of classical piano with a sonic palette characteristic of progressive rock. She’s unafraid to traverse great artistic distances in small spaces. Even within a single song, seas of meticulously layered electric guitars will be followed by shimmers of sunlight on water cast by picks against acoustic strings, harmony quickly overtaken by fierce chromaticism, rushing walls of sound cut short by vulnerable moments of intimacy between her solo vocal and piano, and even momentary appearances of bagpipe and cello, which lend an air of epic fantasy to a far-reaching tale. The cumulative effect is an organic confluence of the personal and the archetypal.

Together, the songs of Dream War ask, “How are we to dream, hope, and love again after our first dreams have been crushed, our first hopes dashed, and our first loves ravaged?” Ella Mine raises these questions with dexterity, poise, and an ambition born of courage. It is impossible to hear any one of these songs without feeling compelled to listen intently, and that is the magic of Ella’s songwriting: the sense that you’re listening not only to one songwriter’s story, but to the untold depths of your own.

“Dream War is a journey through the terror-filled landscapes of devastating human experiences,” Ella explains. “It’s a search for evidences of a rooted and unshakeable beauty buried there. Novelist Frederick Buechner wrote ‘Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.’ My hope for you as a listener is that you’ll walk with me through the wreckage of your own dark experiences, focusing on the source of your courage and keeping your eyes open wide to the burning light of the fire you tend.”

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