Love Is Not The Antidote To All Your Problems, But Dove Ellis Might Be

The first thing I saw when I pulled into the Hollywood Forever Cemetery were four peacocks and a slew of gravestones so ornate they would make King Louis XIV jealous. The high-ceilinged, chandelier lit venue and the surrounding sense of death provided an atmosphere of eerie mystique perfect for an artist such as Dove Ellis.

Dove Ellis is the stage name of 23-year-old Thomas O’Donoghue, an Irish singer-songwriter who dropped his stellar debut album Blizzard in December of last year. Between the album’s warm reception from publications like Pitchfork, his slot as the opener for the Brooklyn based “saviors of rock” Geese, and a feature on War Child’s HELP(2), Ellis has quickly gone from Manchester’s secret star to an emerging name in the alternative music scene. This attention has caused him to receive grandiose comparisons to legends such as Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley, and Thom Yorke. If such acclaim weren’t alluring enough, Ellis’ enigmatic presence and simply jaw dropping voice have piqued an interest among many young music lovers in a manner unlike anything I have ever seen in the modern age.

The lights inside the Masonic Lodge were low when Dove Ellis kicked open his set with “Brown Hole,” an unreleased track that builds cinematically over its six minute duration. Opening with a song that nobody in the audience has ever heard is an extremely ambitious choice, one that would have fallen flat if not for the sheer elasticity of Ellis’ voice and the melancholic textures of the song’s composition. Throughout the set, Ellis would go on to perform four additional unreleased tracks such as “Two Brothers Smoking,” an upbeat number with gorgeous vocal layers provided by accompanying band members Fred Donlon-Mansbridge (soprano saxophone/bass/keyboard/harmonica) and Saya Barbaglia (bassist/viola player of Mary in the Junkyard). “Mozart” and “Marooning” were ebbing-and-flowing pieces reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens and Black Country, New Road with their interjections of soprano saxophone, perfectly structured bass lines, and drum parts that carry the tracks through their various stages. The last new song that Dove Ellis played was a piano ballad called “Nest Among Stars” that sounds like a classic in the making, a tune that you’re not sure if you should be smiling or weeping through.

Like most artists in the limbo of debut to sophomore, Dove Ellis is developing his own sound, a sound I would describe as “timelessly of the time.” These songs sound familiar, like something from your childhood you haven’t heard in over a decade but still know all the words too. At the same time, these genre-crossing compositions carry a sense of modernity that only a 21st century artist could do. It seems that Dove Ellis is truly spreading his wings with these unreleased songs, and I am eagerly awaiting their studio releases if they are ever to come.

Throughout the rest of the set, Ellis & co. played renditions of songs on Blizzard that displayed the sheer musicality of each and every member on stage. With an extended introduction on “Heaven Has No Wings” and beautiful additions by guitarist Louis Campbell on “It Is A Blizzard,” the blisteringly warm lodge was filled with breathtaking instrumentation. The highlight of the set came with “When You Tie Your Hair Up,” a song that starts with Ellis’ longing croon before kicking into a heart-wrenching chorus with Ellis continuously belting “Annie won’t you come back” over mesmerizing guitar lines. On “When You Tie Your Hair Up” and “Love Is,” drummer Matt Deakin excels at supporting the songs through their highs and lows, opting for subtlety and dynamic build where most would simply show off their chops.

Though the set lasted an hour and fifteen minutes at most, it was mystifying. The average age of the room could not have been more than 25, but at times there were truly no phones in sight, a rarity in the current state of music where social media often comes before the music. Other than the musicians, the room was silent. This silence was not out of boredom, but rather of captivation. Between songs Dove Ellis seemed like your average guy with his red-green flannel and awkward mumblings, almost like he would rather sink into the shadows than be up on stage. Yet, the second the music would start, he had the room in the palm of his hand and commanded the audience’s attention in a manner that felt like how 90s journalists used to describe experiencing a Jeff Buckley performance. Even the person standing to my right during the show,
a six-foot-something man who looked like he just stepped out of the frat house, gawked at Ellis between songs as he whispered, “It’s like an angel.”

These comparisons and descriptions levied towards Ellis from writers (myself included) may seem lofty, but they are not unfounded. Dove Ellis is a once in a lifetime vocalist with a musical authenticity that speaks to a generation of young adults who want something real to cling onto, who want live music with actual musicians playing actual instruments. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Dove Ellis’ career; this was a gig I will be boasting about in five years time when tickets for his concerts will be as rare as his talent. To put it simply: if you ever have the chance to see Dove Ellis perform, take it.