Review: Cold Desire by Ernest Ellis

Four years since releasing the critically acclaimed Hunting, Ernest Ellis is back with an album that has condensed the highlights from his previous collection and matured them.

Cold Desire has cast the radio-friendly jungle drums and poppy guitar lines aside and replaced them with more deliberate, passionate, and lasting sounds.

Through the use of sultry melodies and soothing undertones, the noticeably ‘one-tempoed’ record is one that will easily get under the listener’s skin.

Sounding like a crooner on his last breath, the singer’s vocal tones are a real standout on Cold Desire. ‘Way Down’ is a highlight as he confidently spits his lyrics before briefly hitting falsetto far above his natural register. It brings about the musician’s believable emotional confusion when lamenting “true love caught me on the way down”.

Cold Desire is a front loaded album. The first four tracks are seamlessly consistent in lyrical content and musicality, all containing a quavered bassline with an open snare drum on the 2/4. Such hypnotic characteristics are heightened with drawn-out backing instrumentation including a well-placed saxophone. Opening track ‘Clean Machine’ sets up the collection as it develops thoughtfully from a basic vocal-based pop track to one with mesmerising, multi-layered organised chaos.

However, the listener is awoken from their early trance by the weaker fifth track ‘Inside Outside’. The song’s attempt at dynamic diversity perhaps should have been left exclusively for live rendition. Similarly, ‘Echo Bay’ takes the formerly cool saxophone from ‘Clean Machine’ to a slightly out of place, dated destination.

Ellis nearly nailed Cold Desire. The solid tracks are excellent, and despite the few weak moments, all songs are bound to translate well in a live setting. The future is bright for this returning troubadour.