Having recently shared first single ‘Wipe Away The Tears’ feat. Tonguetied, today she releases new track ‘All I Get’.

She explains: “Writing ‘All I Get’ really took me on a path I wasn’t expecting, both in its messaging and how the production emerged. It was a liberating song to write – I had spent months musing on how little I had, how so much had been taken from me emotionally, leaving me feeling bereft – but I realised in writing it, that ‘all’ I had left was in fact abundant and rich. Left in the wake of that break-up was evidence that I had really lived and loved, I had received so much support from those around me, and I had made it through a transformative period that pushed me into becoming a better person. This song makes me feel like a living thing”.

The post WILDES shares new single and video ‘All I Get’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

New single ‘Lay Upon Me’ is captivating in its sparsity. Guided by soft piano chords and pillowy percussion, Ella Walker’s magisterial voice and her intensely personal rumination on the minimum demands of love [“Lay upon me this honesty, you see I call it love / Maybe you’ve done it differently but I still need to trust”] are elegantly delivered amidst warped string sections as the song swells to its close.

Speaking more on the release of ‘Lay Upon Me’, WILDES said: “‘Lay Upon Me’ is a manifesto for love, laying down my wants and needs. While there is underlying fear and delicacy, and almost a disclaimer that I need to be handled gently, it’s a hopeful and romantic declaration that I am proud to make.”

The post WILDES releases bewitching manifesto for love ‘Lay Upon Me’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

New EP Subsidence finds Ella Walker going back to her roots, self-producing and recording the entire project from her flat in Dalston, recruiting frequent collaborator Matt Wiggins (Adele, Florence and the Machine) to mix the EP.

“The EP centres around the abrupt end of a loving relationship that left me quite devastated and shocked,” WILDES explains. The new project is led by new single ‘heartbreak is silent’, a suitably subtle, oscillating song dutifully capturing her fractured emotions post-break up.

Previously noting PJ Harvey and Patti Smith as core influences on her project – ‘heartbreak is silent’ showcases an alluring sonic evolution. With its heartbeat kick drum running throughout, building to a crescendo of muted electronics, WILDES’ grasp of tension and release, and her eloquent portrayal of her personal experience of romantic trauma (“Heartbreak is quiet for me / Not the crying in the rain it’s intended to be / Heartbreak is silent for me / Not the burning claret rage of a lover on their knees”) is remarkable.

Of the new single, WILDES said: “‘heartbreak is silent’ captures a battle between myself and my emotions after the end of my last relationship. This particular heartbreak was quietly subtle from the outside, but raging and all encompassing within. He had no idea what I was going through – all he saw was the glossier veneer of social media. Heartbreak and grief are familiar to me, but they are heavy burdens that sometimes feel impossible to carry. This song is all about that duality.”

The post WILDES announces new EP and shares eloquent portrayal of romantic trauma on new single ‘heartbreak is silent’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

More than a documentation of her artistry: WILDES’ debut album Other Words Fail Me is a testimony of hard-won survival. After a long period of false dependency ending with her leaving an abusive (both professional and romantic) relationship, Walker scraped together the shards of a world shattered, and at last, she has built herself an entirely new reflection. For its soaring closing track ‘True Love’, WILDES and producer St Francis Hotel (aka Declan Gaffney) wanted to perfectly capture the highs and lows of learning to love yourself.

Speaking more on the release, and the collaboration with The Flaming Lips, WILDES said: “This past year has been full of pinch-me moments, but today, releasing ‘True Love feat. The Flaming Lips’ is certainly one of the biggest. I wanted to add this final song to the album as an ode to self love and radical acceptance of yourself, no matter who you are, or what you have experienced. Never in a million years would I have believed The Flaming Lips would be the band to help bring this song to life – so thank you to the band, for bringing vivid technicolour to this rainbow of a song.”

The post WILDES recruits The Flaming Lips for elegant new single ‘True Love (Make Me Believe)’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

While Walker’s gaze is set firmly on what is in front of her, there is still room to acknowledge where the she has come from. ‘(Run to the) Flames’ was written in 2019, the only track brought forward to the album from that period of time. “It was a time where I felt really useless, musically,” she explains. “I was really without direction. I had a strong connection with it emotionally: it was all about running into the flames when you’re in a really dark, sad place, and deciding that you’re going to change.”

This elegiac song honours the ‘old’ WILDES sound of grand, sweeping endings, but stays true to the artist she is now with new sonic inflections. She sings: “I’ll only dream of the woman I could’ve been”, as she stands on the edge of a future where that woman is within her reach.is a chemical experience in the desert.”

The post WILDES releases new single ‘(Run to the) Flames’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Citing the influence of PJ Harvey, Patti Smith and SASAMI on her new album, WILDES notes – “They are unapologetically honest women and musicians. They gave me permission to come out of the box I’d been cowering in.”

New single ‘Far and Wide’ is released alongside a new video directed by WILDES herself, with the music deftly showcasing her stronghold of emotional clarity. Specifically focusing on the importance of friendship in early adulthood, ‘Far and Wide’ unites a delicate swell of electronic atmospherics, churning muted guitars and WILDES’ serene vocal.

Of the song’s lyrical inspiration, she said: “‘Far and Wide’ is a celebration of friendship. It reflects the madness and uncertainty of early adulthood and the constant change and turbulence we all go through. After neglecting them for a long time, I realised how constant and secure my friendships had become. They saved me, melting away my shame and holding me when I couldn’t cope. Banding together against our shared, frenzied existences, it dawned on me that these loving and intimate friendships were more valuable than any boyfriend had ever been. The constant support and unconditional love of these people is the reason I am here today. So this is a love letter to those friends who saved me – I would do anything for you.”

A defining theme of new album Other Words Fail Me is the hard-won process of reclaiming her self-esteem. More than a documentation of her artistry: it’s a testimony of hard-won survival. Scraping together the shards of a world shattered, bloodied fingers and teeth gritted from catching herself on the sharp edges of realities she spent four years trying to ignore, at last, she has built herself an entirely new reflection.

After a long period of false dependency ending with her leaving a controlling and abusive relationship, Other Words Fail Me marks a new dawn for Ella Walker, where her future is entirely her own. Discussing the album’s title, Walker commented: “It was a name I’d had for quite a while in my head, but the album really grew into the name – it became a lot more symbolic than I ever intended, as writing this album was the only way I could safely and honestly talk about what was going on at the time. I quite literally didn’t have any other words to describe it other than the lyrics in these songs.”

Other Words Fail Me:

1. Woman In Love
2. Lightly
3. Enfant
4. Far and Wide
5. Flames
6. Just Like You
7. Real Life
8. Anytime
9. Restless
10. True Love

The post WILDES announces long-awaited debut album Other Words Fail Me; shares new single ‘Far and Wide’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

A defining theme of WILDES’ new material is the hard-won process of reclaiming her self-esteem. ‘Lightly’, was an exercise in learning to like herself again – “I’d been totally absorbed by other people, and I never consulted my own emotions,” recalls Walker.

A piano ballad with a rousing string section to tie your heart in knots, it’s an ode to her own resilience. “It was a pivotal moment in my opinion of myself and helped me navigate leaving this bad relationship. I knew I needed a new outlook on life, writing this song helped me believe it.”

Speaking more on the lyrical themes at play on new single ‘Lightly’, she said: “This song symbolises hope. Writing it gave me permission me to imagine how much better my life could be, beyond the fear and worry I had been living in for a number of years. I realised that I was light, and always had been, and I began to separate myself from the sadness and heaviness someone had inflicted upon me. For the first time I sat down and recognised all of the the qualities I loved about myself, and it was these qualities that ended up seeing me through the darkest and most difficult of times. To me, ‘Lightly’ is the feeling of watching the sunrise after the longest night, feeling the warmth on your face – that warmth and light is almost transcendental. I was encouraging myself to listen to my gut and take the terrifying steps towards a better life for myself.”

The post WILDES examines self-love on rousing, skeletal ode to resilience ‘Lightly’ appeared first on She Makes Music.