Born in Wales but raised in Manchester, Elle Mary initially found solace in folk textures, in the suggestions of tradition that an acoustic guitar can conjure.
Gradually, though, she broadened her voice, incorporating new and sometimes shattering elements.
Elle Mary & The Bad Men is the result. Striking folk-noir, her work recalls Jenny Hval or even Sharon Van Etten in its ability to process the world around her.
New cut 'Undead' is a stark, honest tale of grief – directly prompted by the loss of her father, it's driven by that emphatic vocal and those spider-like guitar notes.
Elle explains: "This song deals with grief. My father passed away from cancer and it took me a while to process my grief. I thought I was OK. It made sense to me, my father was ill and he wasn't going to get better, death is inevitable. However after a few months I started to realise that I thought his death was just a phase. That soon he'd be over it and come back. Then it really hit me."
"I wrote 'Undead' and cried a lot the first few times I tried to sing it. I think death can be an abstract idea or something that happens to other people but when it's your parent or close relative mortality is suddenly a very real thing, and you are forced to see things in a more philosophical sense or bury it and deal with the consequences. You learn a lot about life from death, as sad as it is. He never got to hear this album but I let him know I would dedicate it to him. And now that's real."
Check out 'Undead' below.
Undead by ellemarymusic
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