March 29, SINGLE - Goliath
April 12, BONUS SINGLE - Goodbye
April 19, FULL EP - The Familiar
“Goliath was one of the tracks that grabbed me by both ears on first listen [...] it is genuinely a giant of a track! [...] this has a filmic jazz-infused sophistication that grows as the breadth of ideas become evident alongside quality musicianship. Meg’s vocals are enchanting, agile and expressive and the melody, like the accompanying chord progressions, is unusual and infectious.
She packs so much creativity into less than three minutes of simply stunning music.”
Neil March, Fresh on the Net
She packs so much creativity into less than three minutes of simply stunning music.”
Neil March, Fresh on the Net
Featured on BBC Radio 3 Earlier...with Jools Holland, April 27th
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ITV Wales Backstage, May 5th
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“ I suspect this is going to be the start of a very, very long musical love affair because MEG ELLA is clearly top-drawer.
[…] all I can say is I was discombobulated by just how beautiful that recording was.
[…] I utterly, utterly love that - very,very good.”
Adam Walton, BBC Introducing in Wales, BBC Radio Wales, regarding my track “Goliath”
Artist:
MEG ELLA
Composer & Arranger:
Meg Ella Brookes
Co Producers:
Meg Ella Brookes, Rick Leigh, Oli Morgan
Musicians:
Meg Ella Brookes (piano & vocals); Tim Gardner (violin); Flora Curzon (violin); Lara Bowles (viola); Fraser Bowles (cello); Rick Leigh (flugelhorn); Nic Jones (trombone); Twm Dylan (double bass); Donna Thompson (drums); Citizens of the World, the UKs leading Refugee Choir.
Recording Engineers:
Rick Leigh, Nick Powell, Oli Morgan
Mixing: Oli Morgan & Paul Pritchard
Mastering (Stereo & ATMOS): Oli Morgan, Abbey Road Studios
Recorded at St Lukes Church Holloway, Goldsmiths Studio & my bedroom.
Artwork:
Mike Brookes
Partially supported by the
Develop Your Creative Practice Grant
The Familiar is a collection of songs explorating the emotional limbo surrounded significant life events, the liminal space we all have to sit before we figure out how we’ve been changed...
Partially supported by Arts Council England these songs grew from exciting collaborations, including mentoring sessions from one of her favourite artists, Orlando Weeks.
A moment in time captured, piano & vocals recorded live in one take, on the instrument in her childhood home.
MEG ELLA sings a heart felt plea to defer a goodbye she didn’t see coming.
“I don’t want to say Goodbye. Imply best wishes, drip dry. The long, the short, that’s how it goes. What was the point then? No one knows.”
A Boy From Your Town is an an olive branch for the boy “before”, a boy who lived just a few doors down from the man she met and fell in love with.
“Did you feel it take away something that you thought I’d say? We never got that far […]
I fell in love with a boy from your town, let you down. And I’d do it again for the boy from your town.”
MEG ELLA’s cinematic piano writing accompanies lyrics musing the limbo between a significant moment and when you finally figure out what it meant.
An musing about sitting in that unfamiliar place without falling for false narratives.
“I want it known, I want it known I never fell for any hearsay.”
A triumphant statement to end the EP. The most driving & heavily orchestrated track of the EP, with bass & drums playing a key role, and a gripping horn instrumental sat between two conversational verses.
Goliath is an expression of the exhilaration she felt when stepping out of the familiar to stretch into new potential - and how tempting it is to slip back into old grooves.
MEG ELLA’s nuanced arrangements carry you from a controlled opening to a euphoric and slightly frenetic rise, featuring strings, brass, rhythm section & Citizens of the World, the UK’s leading refugee choir - all underscoring the track’s determined mantra;
“I’m bigger now, don’t let me shrink back down.”
BIO: MEG ELLA
photography; Ana de Llor
lighting: Paulo Madureira
Raised in a tiny Welsh seaside village, MEG ELLA’s artistic roots grew from travelling the globe in women’s theatre festivals with her parents.
Trained as a classical cellist and now a sought after multidisciplinary collaborator, she has worked with big influences including Patrick Watson, John Grant, Orlando Weeks, Jules Buckley, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Nitin Sawhney, Wolf Alice, Jools Holland & is even a choral “Abba-tar” in the iconic ABBA Voyage.
Embracing her orchestral roots & indie pop influences, this delicate EP captures her unique grace, ethereal vocals carry vulnerable writing & her talent as an orchestrator shines with soaring strings, brass and cinematic piano lines.
MEG ELLA takes the leap into a new chapter, celebrating her ambitious, autonomous voice as a female artist, with a debut - The Familiar.
She plays key roles in artistic communities as Artistic Director of Citizens of the World, the UK’s leading Refugee Choir seen with Elbow at the BAFTA Winning BBC Platinum Party at the Palace & on Glastonbury Pyramid Stage; Project Manager & Arranger at London Contemporary Voices, providing vocals for 150+ artists, inc. 30+ Grammy winners & nominees & holds a in a supporting role for Trans Voices.
“A singer songwriter, composer and all round musical genius, who effortlessly picks up instruments and makes it look infuriatingly easy.
She is incredibly talented, in high-demand, a furiously booked up woman, and one of my favourite artists.”
Salma El Wardany, BBC Radio London
“[…] captivated immediately, by both her pure, effortless singing and warmth of her voice, and by her emotional but honest delivery”
Marc Almond & Othon Matargas