February 2025 AOTM
Ellie MacPhee - All I Want Is A Trampoline
Tracks 12
Runtime 30mins
Favorite Tracks Let's Just Start, Angel, Try Again, Stumblin'
If you've read my 2024 album spotlight, or spoken to me at all at any point in the last few months, you already know how much I adore Ellie MacPhee’s music. I love her crisp clear voice, beautifully written lyrics and acoustic guitar melodies, intimate recording, I could go on and on for hours.
I think what struck me most about her 2023 EP Cardinal Creek and her work with Hannah Blair under the name Where’s Connie was a certain loneliness. The recordings on both are minimal, just using one voice and one guitar, backed by the occasional whispers of a piano and a violin, present but atmospheric. It’s certainly a tough style to truly get right; fewer parts mean concentrated focus, and more natural blank space to balance, and her delicately masterful execution of all of this is endlessly moving, endlessly heartwrenching.
But where those projects were lonely and longing, All I Want Is A Trampoline is a room teeming with people. Drums, overdriven guitar, an expanded string section, more frequent backing vocals, Ellie is surrounded by friends on this album. I write this on the way home from seeing her play live to celebrate the release of the album and, seeing the crowd full of friends and fans, full band behind her, she said, “I’m so happy seeing everyone here I’m worried I won’t be able to stop smiling through my sad songs”.
And that’s how this album feels. Her sad songs, devastating as they are, have always also had a sprinkle of hope in them. Grieving love lost but celebrating love shared. Losing your way but laughing all the same. This album is just as sad, but that sprinkle of hope is amplified by how full this album feels. Full of people, full of comfort, full of laughter at just the right time.
Despite the scene change, or really because of it, Ellie’s skillful writing and execution still shines through as strong as ever. This album features a new version of Mile High, a song that appeared on the Where’s Connie record. With added drums and an additional guitar it hits just as hard as the original version in its grief of everything you wanted to do with an ex lover, but this time, the most powerful line in the song and the repeated end of each verse is joined by a room full of voices. It re-contextualizes the lyrics so beautifully that comparing the two versions of this song feels like apples to oranges.
Another song that stood out was Try Again. A much more upbeat song than Ellie’s usual style, it’s a fantastic indie rock track in a sort of Snail Mail style. The change in magnitude and pace, especially right after Angel, breaks the album into a two act structure, and that gives it a lot of sticking power for me. It feels like every part of this album is memorable and Try Again is a large part of that. It’s such a banger and I really hope we see more of this style from her in the future.
This has easily been my most anticipated release of the year. Ellie MacPhee has been one of my favorite artists since I heard her first EP and I would have been more than happy if she released an album that was just more of the same, but this comprehensive exploration and expansion of her style goes so far above and beyond my already high expectations. It requires a precision and wisdom most artists don’t find until their third or fourth album, and I can’t wait to see where she goes from here.
If you like this album you may also like: Kat Wallace - grand design
Other new albums I really enjoyed this month:
Purity Filter - life after trance
Cheekface - Middle Spoon
Bartees Strange - Horror
Men I Trust - Forever Live Sessions, Vol. 2
Saya Grey - SAYA
Squid - Cowards
jasmine.4.t - You Are The Morning
flipturn - Burnout Days