ERNEST ELLIS & THE PANAMAS – KINGS CANYON
Singer songwriter Ernest Ellis releases another album but interestingly he’s done it with the collaboration of band The Panamas. Kings Canyon opens with Sons And Daughters and as the song builds with the staggered introduction of the keys, drums, vocals and then guitars the production is notably slick. Not that it’s over produced but you’ll notice just how pristine the sounds are, as though the band were trying to produce a record that was sonically crystalline, evidenced again by the harp at the beginning of Save Me. Even while the drums on Great Sky pound away the keys, guitars and backing vocals maintain the ethereal feel and the band demonstrates its atmospheric credentials even further on the ambling blues instrumental The Face. At first listen it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the songs on Kings Canyon don’t really go anywhere but the group have paid special attention to creating a slow burner and that the sonic picture they’re painting only becomes clearer the further the listener progresses through the album. Ernest Ellis is perfecting the craft of building and building up a track and then releasing the tension with a crescendo of crashing cymbals and reverb drenched guitars. That’s how the group expresses itself and it’s a beautiful listen.
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