I was lucky enough to see this young buck supporting The Golden Dregs at YES in Manchester recently as my co-gigger Rob insisted on getting there early to see him.
It was a slightly strange but enjoyable night. For some reason YES had the chairs out in the Pink Room, which made it feel a bit like a school hall and the ceiling fans were also blasting away, so it was also freezing.
The lad’s* skilful, introspective picking and compelling vocals quickly made it the best school assembly ever. We were also treated to a song on the keyboards, which was equally dazzling.
Obvious comparisons (sorry) would be Jeff Buckley on the voice and Jim O’Rourke for the sensibility and approach to songwriting.
A common refrain afterwards was “great pipes” and he certainly has those. But this isn’t supposed to be a gig review. These are supposed to be great picks from Bandcamp - suffice to say that Dove Ellis is definitely that.
Except you won’t actually find much on Bandcamp. (Great start MJ). In this instance you’d probably get a better idea from this YouTube clip:
Here is my Bandcamp song pick though. A real grower - give it a few listens (and buy it!).
Oh and The Golden Dregs were excellent too. Check them out, if you’ve not had the pleasure.
*= I call him ‘the lad’ here because I’m in that early stage limbo of supporting an act where you don’t know if it’s a stage name or not.