2023-06-02 12:58:44
A short family vacation in Japan inspired Sophie Ellis-Bextor to her new album “Hana”. Not for the first time, the singer shows herself musically from a slightly different side.
In what is perhaps the most famous kitchen in recent pop history, Sophie Ellis-Bextor prepares a classic English tea. The silver disco ball glitters above the sofa with colorful cushions and stuffed animals. There are toys on the floor. During the pandemic, the singer streamed her ‘Kitchen Disco’ from here, a delightfully unchoreographed and impromptu party at which Ellis-Bextor performed hits like ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’ and covers à la ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” sang. The 44-year-old has invited people to her home in West London to talk about her new album.
Despite some danceable songs, the LP “Hana” has little to do with disco. On her seventh studio album, Sophie Ellis-Bextor set music to a trip to Japan that she took with her mother and eldest son in 2020. “We were there for a week, so it was pretty short. We were in Tokyo the whole time, except for one day when we were out,” she told the German Press Agency. “So we were in this extraordinary place, three generations, and we were so close. We had a wonderful time together.”
A family vacation just before lockdown
The timing could hardly have been better. “The trip took on additional meaning because within two or three weeks of our return, the national lockdown began,” recalls the singer with the soft, pleasantly warm and unmistakably elegant voice. “Suddenly the idea of going to Japan was absurd. I couldn’t even visit my mother at home. As a result, this trip suddenly built up an emotional nostalgia.”
Thus, Ellis-Bextor created a Japanese-inspired musical journey with her longtime collaborator Ed Harcourt. With atmospheric synthesizer sounds and no beat at all, “1000 Orchids” introduces the album melancholically. The tapestry of sound is reminiscent of the works of the Greek sound guru Vangelis in the late 70s and early 80s.
Melancholy with a 1980s sound
“I decided I didn’t want any strings on the album,” says Ellis-Bextor. “So I thought, let’s use a lot of synthesizers.” This gives their album and melancholic pop songs like “Beyond The Universe” or “He’s A Dreamer” a pleasant but not too obtrusive 80s sound. “I grew up with it, so it’s in everything,” says the London native, who was born in 1979. “I love all this stuff.”
After the albums “Wanderlust” (2014), which was inspired by Eastern Europe, and “Familia” (2016), with strong influences from Latin America, “Hana” is the third album of this kind from Sophie Ellis-Bextor, whose musical career as frontwoman of the hapless Indie rock band Theaudience began. Her career took off as the singer of Italian DJ Spiller’s catchy tune “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”. With “Take Me Home” (a Cher cover) and “Murder On The Dancefloor” she finally established herself as a disco icon in the 2000s.
Her passion for dance music is still present, which she underpinned with the “Kitchen Disco”. But Sophie Ellis-Bextor stands for more as an artist. “Especially after the “Kitchen Disco” it would have been a little too obvious to make a dance album now, I just didn’t feel like it at all,” she says. With co-songwriter and producer Ed Harcourt, she “can write about whatever we want, it’s very liberating. When I write dance-pop songs, it doesn’t fit that well. I think it’s good for my head when I can also write music outside of the mainstream.” A song like “Hearing In Color” on “Hana” is still absolutely danceable.
The soundtrack for a fantastic journey
Not everything revolves directly around Japan. Ellis-Bextor dedicated the stirring song “Until The Wheels Fall Off” to her stepfather John, who died in 2020. “He and my mother had such a happy marriage,” she says, recounting a conversation in which John gushed about his life with her mother, Janet. “And I thought I’d put all those emotions into a song about just embracing life, the riches and all the beautiful things and the rashness. Because life isn’t very long.”
With “Everything Is Sweet” the singer and songwriter shows her dark side. The lyrics say “everything is beautiful and wonderful”, but between the lines you can quickly see that the opposite is the case. The 44-year-old laughs. “To be honest, it’s a stalking song,” she says, before backtracking. “Maybe I shouldn’t downplay that. Let’s just say it’s about obsessive, unrequited love.”
Lyrically, “Hana” isn’t monothematic, but musically it’s seamless, like a soundtrack for a journey through colorful cities and landscapes. “I think the album has really become a kind of fantasy world that you want to visit,” confirms Sophie Ellis-Bextor. “That’s why it’s a bit kaleidoscopic and cartoony in places. I wanted to have fun.” Her fans should feel the same about this rich and intelligent pop album with an indie twist. (dpa)
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