|
|
This site documents the work of the British musician Rob Ellis.
Rob has worked for such diverse acts as...
PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi, Marianne Faithfull, Scott Walker, Robyn Hitchcock and Dot Allison etc. as well as releasing
his own solo projects such as Spleen and Music For The Home (volumes 1 & 2).
Update - November 2011
After the highly successful release of Anna Calvi's debut album back in January Rob has had a very busy year producing and collaborating with a wide variety of great artists. In January he produced tracks at Monnow Valley studio in Wales for Norwich three-piece Fever Fever as part of an ongoing album project. This was followed by a production and collaborative recording session with the lovely Bat for Lashes in the hills of Perugia in Italy in the Springtime. Then in August an album recording, again at Monnow Valley with a new Canadian artist called Cold Specks ( who have since appeared on the BBC's flagship music show Later with Jools Holland in November this year). A single "Holland' was released in October with The Guardian reviewing it thus...
"Not much is known about Cold Specks other than that she's actually Al Spx, a 23-year-old who hails from Etobicoke in Canada and now lives in London. A few Google searches reveal she used to go under the pseudonyms Basket of Figs and the Hotel Ghost, and there are a few EPs knocking about in each name. But right now she's working on her debut album as Cold Specks with producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi), creating what she calls "doom soul". Holland is the first single to emerge from the sessions, a skeletal, dry-as-a-bone musical backing swollen by a voice loaded with soul but beautifully restrained. "We are many, we are many, we are dust," goes the final line as the music fades and Spx is left delivering her own brand of death-obsessed gospel."
The debut Cold Specks album will make its appearance early 2012.
September saw Rob working with another new band, a London duo called 2:54. Rob produced three tracks which have appeared on the band's new EP entitled "Scarlet" and which was released on Fiction records on November 14th. For this Rob was joined by the excellent Mr David Pye on engineering duties, who is best known for his great work on The Wild Beasts albums... again the good old Guardian had this to say about the band...
"2:54 – London-based sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow – formed only 18 months ago but they've already carved out their own niche: foggy, claustrophobic gloom-pop delivered without a hint of a smile, with at least one of them sporting a black leather jacket. Still, the three songs they've released so far – dry-as-a-bone Creeping, slow-burn On a Wire, and the relatively energetic Cold Front – have all been excellent examples of what happens when you stick to a formula and tweak the edges. Scarlet is the title track from their forthcoming EP, their first release for Fiction and the fruits of their work with producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey) and mixer Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails). The video is a moody accompaniment to the tense track, with images shifting between vast expanses of forest and close-ups of the backs of heads."
The EP was followed by a two week session at Rob's now "2nd home" Monnow Valley for a debut 2:54 album to be released on Fiction next year, again engineered by David Pye and mixed by Alan Moulder.
More work on the wonderful Fever Fever's album ensued with two more tracks for prospective album to be released on the band's own Gravy Records label in 2012.
November saw Rob produce new tracks for Anna Calvi, at the end of a truly remarkable year for Anna, which saw her album nominated for a Mercury Music Prize and with universal rave reviews the world over. The album is sure to be high in the end of year lists of best albums of 2011.
Finally Rob will be home again at Monnow in December with Swedish solo artist Fredrika Stahl for album tracks to be released by Sony France later in 2012.
Rob Ellis has co-produced the acclaimed debut album from Anna Calvi.
|
|
|
Anna Calvi - "Anna Calvi"
Out Now on Domino Records
*** Barclaycard Music Prize 2011 Nominated ***
Click here to order your CD copy now.
Click here to order your Vinyl copy now.
|
Follow Rob Ellis on these social sites:
|
|
