Amy May Ellis - Over Ling And Bell (2023)

Brought up singing around the house with her mother, Amy May Ellis was first inspired to start writing songs aged 15 on a ukulele bought for her by her grandad. She began making her mark as a musician through support slots for touring artists including Michael Chapman, Alessi’s Ark, Hiss Golden Messenger, Tiny Ruins, Ryley Walker and Willy Mason at her local music venue The Band Room in Farndale. “Having artists from all over the world come and play in the tin shed at the bottom of the hill was pretty special,” she reflects. Since 2018, with the support of a growing band of friends, collaborators and fans, Amy has released a series of four EPs, each exploring an element – Weathered by Waves, We Got Fire, Where My Garden Lies, and When In The Wind. She has received support from BBC 6 Music, BBC introducing, Uncut Magazine and Rough Trade, and has played headline tours around the UK and Ireland, as well as performed at Brighton’s Great Escape festival.

Inspired by centuries of human habitation on the ancient North York Moors, Over Ling and Bell was written in a secluded farmhouse there, mostly alone but sometimes with friends. It represents the fullest, finest, and most complete manifestation yet of Amy May Ellis’s nourishing nature songs. Opener ‘Rain From the East’ is a song about “feeling unsteady and the weariness that comes with grief”, formed in time with the shoveling of coal under a gathering storm. Shaped by sinister folktales, ‘Aud Mother’ celebrates witches, mothers, and the power of friendship. Set to softly tumbling percussive loops, ‘Miner Farmer’ references Amy’s grandmother and her sister, who would walk from their dale over the hill to the neighbouring valley, carrying their dancing shoes for a night ofrevelry in the village hall. ‘Maybe We’ll Wake Up’ is a gently unfurling torch song written together with fellow singer-songwriter Uma Bunnag, while the album’s stunning, shimmering, dreamlike closer ‘Mondegreen’ was written with and produced by Sam Griffiths of York indie rock band The Howl and The Hum. Over Ling and Bell is fresh and youthful and yet crafted in a grand folk tradition, interrogating legend and turning the soil in search of meaning, healing and purpose. A scuttle of coal to light the long dark winter nights.