Ella Thompson is standing up for feeling. Standing up for joy and pain and all the messy, confusing, beautiful details that make life worth living. Soulful and timeless, her songs tell stories of the heart, finding universal truths in the honesty of personal experience.
Released on UK label Mr Bongo and College of Knowledge in Australia and New Zealand, Triumph & Sadness is her most profound album yet – a powerful and unique record inspired by a classic sweet soul sound and rooted in the contemporary moment. Reaching out with vulnerability and poise, it is a plea for connection in a world gone numb.
Recorded over four fruitful days at an all-analogue studio in the stunning natural surroundings of rural Victoria (with additional sessions for horns vocals and overdubs at Sound Park in Northcote), Triumph & Sadness was cut direct-to-tape with all the urgency and warmth of the iconic ‘60s and ‘70s sessions that first inspired her. Written alongside Liam McGorry (Temporary Blessings), featuring collaborators from bands Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo and mixed by Daptone and The Womack Sisters collaborator Wayne Gordon, it captures the live energy of a band at the top of their game.
Inspired by Australian soul singer Renée Geyer, who blazed a trail across the country in the 1970s, and a wide tapestry of influences from soul titans like Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield, to the philosophical musings of Patti Smith, Alice Walker and Simone Weil, Thompson takes the listener by the heart and hand across the album’s 10 shimmering songs.