Watch Ella Thompson perform songs from Ripple On The Wing

The soulful songs of Ella Thompson's latest Ripple On The Wing should appeal to fans of Evie Sands and Renee Geyer. 

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Ella Thompson’s new record Ripple on the Wing is a soaring 10 song collection - a sweet and spooky modern take on classic soul music. With echoes of 1960’s lowrider love songs and haunting cinematic arrangements; Ella sings songs of personal empowerment & self-realization alongside classic themes of love & longing.

Backed by an impeccable band featuring members of Surprise Chef with other Melbourne soul luminaries; Ripple on the Wing’s production palette is an intoxicating blend of the acoustic & amplified - with harpsichord, piano & flute melding with classic funky drums, organ, guitar along with those sweet vocal harmony singalong ‘oohs & ahhhs’ that make everything alright.

Inspired by icons like Australian soul pioneer Renee Geyer & groups like The Shangri-La’s (as well as contemporary soul artists like Thee Sacred Souls and Baby Rose), Ella’s songwriting draws on poetry, philosophy and personal experience to inform her lyrics. Ripple On The Wing is truly cinematic - not just in the sense that it owes a lot to Soundtrack & Library Musics, but that it is also an album of storytelling & moods - each song defining its own scenery & space. One such example comes from the sweet & soulful Little Star, where Ella’s lyrics take comfort in belonging to the microscopic & the universal, creating a lullaby-like softness to sink into - inviting her listeners to contemplate the vast expanse of human emotion & the interconnectedness of all things.

One More Step & There's A Fire continue in the sweet soul vein with themes of finding belonging and reciprocity. In contrast, the staunch & spooky Omen explores Ella’s darker side, where reality intertwines with myth & the supernatural intermingles with the personal. Let There Be Nothing imagines a narrative where Carmela Soprano challenges the patriarchal system she is a part of. Don’t Be A Taurus is a playful slow dance serenade to tender love and letting go of stubbornness.

Ripple On The Wing is co-produced by Ella, Liam McGorry (Ex-Olympian, Dorsal Fins, Saskwatch) & Henry Jenkins (Karate Boogaloo), with Henry at the controls both in the recording process & the mix. The album being Mastered by NY legend Alex De Turk. The songs of Ripple on the Wing are written & arranged by both Ella & Liam, the latter also featuring on Trumpet alongside Cheryl Durongpisitkul’s rich saxophone. Surprise Chef’s Lachlan Stuckey, Jethro Curtin & Hudson Whitlock provide tremendously tasteful guitar, keyboards, vibraphone and percussion respectively, with Alex Roper & Tom Pettit locking it all down on the drums & bass. Hiatus Kaiyote’s Jace XL rounding out the ensemble with gorgeous backing vocals. Ripple on the Wing is a warm, immediate & honest record, a group of friends recording live in a room together. 

Get a copy of Ella Thompson's Ripple On The Wing album via Bandcamp right here. Check out her performances of a few songs along with the studio version of "Jigsaw" below. 

Ella Thompson releases 70s giallo soundtrack-inspired Domino album

Ella Thompson collaborated with Frollen Music Library to get all the right Piero Piccioni moves for her new Domino album.

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Ella Thompson’s Domino is a spooky, bittersweet collection of cinematic soul cuts influenced by 1970s Italian 'giallo' film scores, with luminous vocals that draw a line between 60s icons like Nancy Sinatra and contemporary soul artists like Kadhja Bonet. Ella’s effortless singing and haunting lyrics paint angular pictures in the moody darkness. In her words: “The original instrumental of the song ‘Domino’ is titled ‘Swimming in a cold lake at night’ this kind of sums up the feeling of many of the songs on the record….seeing light in dark places, freedom and anxiety of the unknown, curiosity, never regretting a swim and the euphoria you get when you come out the other end.” 

The sparse production is intentionally cinematic, inspired by the music of 1970s giallo films, particularly by composers like Piero Piccioni but comparable to current artists like Adrian Younge or Bad Bad Not Good in a meditative mood. Minimal but propulsive bass and drums know when to hang back, as they do in the title track and when to step forward as they do in the chugging, deep and funky rhythm section work on the single Never Fight The Way You Feel. Choral vocal textures by Ella’s backing vocalists Rita Stach and Hailey Cramer create deep harmonic backgrounds, sometimes sounding like an epic ensemble of voices, sometimes laying down ethereal and delicate parts, almost imperceptible. Nylon string guitar features prominently, creating hypnotic chordal beds as sparse piano and tuned percussion pick out minimal, evocative melodies. 

All the instrumentation used in Domino was created by Frollen Music Library, a sound library music project by the musicians behind Karate Boogaloo, Henry Jenkins, Hudson Whitlock and Darvid Thor, all long term collaborators and friends of Ella’s. When she heard their take on 1960s and 1970s soundtracks, Ella had an immediate creative response: “My ears lit up when I heard these cinematic melodies, and I couldn’t help but turn them into something else for words and voices.” She recorded all her vocals, and those of her backing singers, with Frollen engineer Henry Jenkins in a two day whirlwind, eschewing perfectionism and striking before the magic of the moment faded. The result is sublime. In Henry’s words: “When I first heard what she had written I was floored. She completely reimagined the instrumental pieces of music we had composed and took them to new heights”. 

Ella has returned to making music under her own name in 2023 after years releasing music with her electro pop duo GL and cult indie band Dorsal Fins. One of Australia’s truly accomplished singers, Ella’s range reaches from art music to cinematic soul, jazz and pop. In addition to her solo project and bands she has been a featured artist for numerous acts most notably, deep funk pioneers The Bamboos and Mark Ronson. Domino is available now through Hopestreet Recordings on Vinyl LP & digital formats. Get a copy via Bandcamp right here. Listen to the title track below.