Dove Ellis - Blizzard 

Across this debut album Dove Ellis comes across as an artist still shaping his identity, but with a staunch view of which rules he wants to ignore. He pulls from post-punk tension, the meandering drift of ambient, and pop’s directness, but instead of smoothing these elements into something tidy, across ‘Blizzard’ he lets them sit slightly at odds. What loosely ties the album together is his tremor-edged quivering croon, often serving as an instrument in and of itself. Take lead single, ‘To the Sandals’, for example, where his voice is sometimes indistinguishable from the shaking sax runs. Elsewhere, ‘Love Is’, with its minimalist guitar and drum arrangement, pushes every crack and rise in his delivery to the front.

There are some real left turns on this record, too. ‘It Is a Blizzard’ is a twisted turn on a Christmas song (“I’ll be gone by Christmas”, he laments), while ‘Jaundice’ pays homage to his Galway roots by swinging into Celtic folk-punk revival. He thrives in this intersection of extremes: there are moments of overwhelming emotional release, such as the swell and drop of ‘Tie Your Hair Up’, but there are also glimmers of delicacy. The flutes in ‘Little Left Hope’ flitter, while ‘Pale Song’ is awash with Jeff Buckley-esque intimacy. His production keeps a coarse edge but never loses grip. Some tracks - like the unadorned ‘Feathers, Cash’ or ‘Away You Stride’ - feel like sketches waiting for clear intent, but the drive is crystal clear and the sound is entirely his. Still, ‘Blizzard’ is a debut, and a few albums down the line, Dove Ellis has the potential to make something truly disruptive.