Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Those alone periods, the times in which to read whatever takes our fancy without someone looking at us with suspicion, with the glare of accusation that somehow you are wasting time just by making sure your brain is doing what it is supposed to, appreciating art in any form and not being told by a supposed authority that by doing so you are not being productive.
Regardless of whether it is a casual dip into an old classic, a much loved friend or the excitement of Adult Fiction, time must always be set aside for such moments. However, if the words on the page and the music you hear in your mind are in tandem, if they speak the same language to you then the imagination is allowed to spread, to cultivate a following of integrity and dependability of soul. It is in the words and music of Nick Ellis’ latest album, Adult Fiction, which such fine sentiments are allowed to rise up and take on the world of ignorance and the shallowness of imagination and conversation.
Nick Ellis has once again come up trumps in Adult Fiction and has taken a step beyond even of that of the tremendous Daylight Ghosts. The flourish in which the musician has presented in songs such as Your Love, The Blue Soul, Heartbreak City, The Bistro Confessional and the beautiful A Girl Desire is wonderfully magnificent. The beguiling sense of change, not drastic, but passionately subtle and intriguing is in itself a testament to the fluidity of the musician’s playing and depth of knowledge.
The trust placed between listener and player is enough to bring forth moments where the fiction can be blurred and seen to stretch over the memories of what has been, never down beat, even when the melancholy is playfully rife, always with a sense of joyful without having to apologise for the smile it brings forth; Adult Fiction is an album of collected endeavours that have been overcome and allowed to form the basis of a artistic escort in which to serve others a possible path of enlightenment.
To follow Daylight Ghosts was always going to be a tall order, even the most proficient and passionate would look upon the challenge with a sense of mood and restrained musing; not so Nick Ellis, each song, each chapter of Adult Fiction is a powerful gaze into the soul of the artist who has seen what lays ahead and is not afraid to explore with purpose.
Delightfully cool, Nick Ellis has surpassed Daylight Ghosts but doesn’t forget them; the measure of the man is absolute.
Ian D. Hall