Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The ability to disconnect from reality as if one was able to envelope the soul and mind in some sort of hypnotic state of awareness, one that was not suggestible or open to abuse by others, but instead find beauty in the melancholy, a trance that sees the smallest moment steeped in a vivid sensory awareness; is perhaps a state of mind to which the vast majority of people will not be conscious that they can attain, even if they are aware of the fragility of life, they will simply see existence as motion, not as detail.
The act of Ambedo is not obscure, nothing can truly be doubted or vague if even one person can instruct others on its usage, but it is the heart and soul of the latest album by the Ellis Mano Band, and one that has already produced two superb single ahead of its release, and one that frames a state of mind of a possible audience crying out for detail, of conscious, of concentration, and one that delivers fully in every feature possible.
Imagine being so absorbed in the act of watching rain running down a windowpane that the detail of life becomes clear, that by understanding how fragile, precarious existence is that we can bear witness to the movement with greater ease. It is to that sensation that Ellis Mano Band have constructed a piece of art that is visionary, blessed and unambiguous in its fearsome, but delicately balanced, formidable delivery.
From facing down and respecting the immensity of The Horrible Truth, the sheer sincerity in the track Ambedo Mind, The Fight For Peace, The Question, Keep It Simple and the finale of Heart ‘N Mind, the Swiss based four-piece blues Rock take the best examples of jazz, smooth rock, the dramatic upbeat Blues and the surprising, but absolutely welcome sensual ballad, Ellis Mano Band have stirred the musical equivalent of the hummingbird in flight, and set free the ability to see it in slow frame glory.
Every detail of the album announces itself, there is no hiding place for the inexplicable to dwell, no dark corner for the shy and retiring to multiply in fear, this is a muscle of music that has been firmly and utterly flexed, and as each song hits the listener’s senses, the appetite for the band grows more intense.
An album of genius and creative freedom explored, like raindrops running down the windowpane in front of you, all you can do is neglect everything else around you, forget that it is there, and instead focus all you have on the moment which lasts tantilisingly forever.
Ellis Mano Band’s Ambedo is out now.
Ian D. Hall