Interview: Ego Ella May
Creating experimental neo-soul jazz-fusion grooves is second nature at this point for South London singer-songwriter, Ego Ella May. She is back dropping numerous effortlessly smooth singles ahead of her long-awaited second album ‘Honey For Wounds’. I catch up with her about taking things slow, working on personal development, and most importantly being kind to yourself in these turbulent times.
The single ‘Give A Little’ is a piece of art that narrates some of these personal developments and aligns her values nicely. “Give A Little was inspired by this Reiki healer I went to see, she basically told I needed to go to the ocean to reconnect. I ended up watching this sunset on a beach in Devon, thinking about my life and all the mistakes I have made. I remember it was September last year and I was in a ‘woe is me’ state. I wrote it thinking there has to be more meaning to my life than just mistakes.”
There’s a relatable maturity in human spirit that runs through Ego Ella May’s music. I really felt this as we chatted more naturally about the diversity and emotions experienced through her journey growing up as a musician.
“When I was younger in my house, we listened to lots of Gospel and R&B like Destiny’s Child and 3LW. But my Dad also had a really eclectic record collection, he would have Stevie Wonder and Phil Collins next to some old school jazz and 70s afro beats. There was just a lot of different music in my household, so I started off liking listening to music before I knew I wanted to do it myself.”
“I think my earliest memory of wanting to pursue music, was rinsing Steve Wonder’s ballad collection. I thought he was so interesting and different to anything I’d ever heard, I found it very inspiring. I still listen to a lot of different music. If anyone was to go through my Spotify playlists, they’d think that I was really confused. The range of Gospel to Indie to Classical to Pre-teens anthems is weird but it all opens up my ears so why not.”
South London is currently flowing with diverse and deep neo-soul and neo-jazz which Ego Ella May definitely dips her feet in from time to time. It seems that collaboration is the driver of this movement.
“I don’t exactly think I’m part of the cool South London jazz scene, but I know a lot of people that are. Us South London lot do like to collaborate with each other and it’s nice knowing a lot of musicians in the area. There’s something about being from South and being able to connect with each other. We just do it well! There’s never any greed or competition it’s often “who’s in the studio, who wants to vibe, who wants to jam”. We’re always supportive of each other. I’m really proud of the scene that’s building right now.”
“I’d say my favourite collab that I’ve done was on ‘Table For One’, that song came out about two years ago but it’s going on my album. I worked with Oscar Jerome, Joe Arman-Jones, Wu-Lu and Eddie Hick from Sons of Kemet. We all went into the studio one day and jammed. It was such an organic thing and that is what makes it my favourite because we didn’t know what was going to happen when we showed up to the studio that day. They all killed it.”
This extends beyond making the music to more lateral elements that go into being a musician such as creating visuals to match the sound. “I’m not a video person. I don’t like being in front of the camera but what does help is working with your friends.
This album opens up another side to Ego Ella May’s artistry allowing the soulful song writing to blossom into a balance of introspectiveness and compassion. I was interested where she pulled inspiration for this from.
“I’ve always been quite introspective and pensive. I read a load as well which makes me think more than if I wasn’t an avid reader. I love telling stories, this definitely helps in my song writing. My main focus in life is being more compassionate and the more I’ve gotten into meditation the more I see things differently and it influences my writing in that way.”
“Sylvia Plath is probably a writer that I find a lot of quoteables from. James Baldwin and Bell Hooks too. There is also this spiritual healer called Thich Nhat Hanh he talks a lot about the art of communication and compassion. That inspired me a lot.”
It is clear the music industry has been shaken from the last few months and I wanted to know how much had changed and what was keeping her motivated while adjusting to the releasing music for lockdown.
“For me, it hasn’t been too hard because I have my home set up and I always record at home anyway, so things haven’t changed that much. I have had way more time to create. I’ve been practicing on guitar a bit but mainly I’ve been using the time to read, do yoga and go on walks. I got a bike recently too.”
“I’m someone who doesn’t force making music anyway, so I’ve got myself to a place where I don’t get frustrated if I’m not constantly making music. I know a lot of people who feel really guilty when they’re not making anything, but I just don’t to be honest with you. I’m not sure if this is because I’ve got to place where I focus a lot on internal stuff as opposed to, seeing myself as somebody because I’m creating. I don’t feel like that anymore, but I used to so I have compassion for people who do. My advice would be to try not to beat yourself up if you’re not productive right now. It’s so understandable if you’re not and if there’s any time to have compassion for yourself it would be now. There’s an unrealistic pressure to be great in this time. I think it’s important to focus on staying alive, breathing and letting yourself be.”
“I’m really excited to get the album out because I’ve been holding onto it since the end of last year now. It was hard to know what to do about a release in this time. But I think it’s important to get it out now as it might help people in their mental healing journey. Beyond the album, I have no idea and I kind of like that. Everything’s up in the air but hopefully some more music and live shows further down the line. I don’t really rush things. We’ll take it a day at a time.”
‘Honey For Wounds’ is out now on Tru Thoughts Records with a rescheduled headline show later this year. Available on all streaming platforms here.
Interview by Callum Ritchie
Photography by Ellie Ramsden