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ELLiS-D shivers on new single Shakedown

Words Elliot Joseph Burr


Still sweaty from an EU tour supporting Fat Dog, the Brighton goth-punk solo-act

(real name Ellis Dickson) is keeping up momentum with this frenetic trio of tracks.


Photo by Akos Szaro


A-side “Shakedown” hurtles in with a feedback roar and steady, swaggering

drums before erupting into a frantic riff and yelped punk vocal. On the chorus he

insists: “Gotta get, gotta get my face on the wall”. A placid organ bridge slows things

down for a sec, but when the raucous riff and clashing drums return for a swooping

climax, the song remains raucous.


First B-side “Carousel” recalls Talking Heads in its subtle, picky, repeated riff

and neurotic lyrics. Yelped vocals outline a paranoid worldview: “We’re all just fiction

/ It’s comin’ for us / Masters of deception set to turn this world to dust”. A chorus

releases some of this pent-up energy in pledge to an unnamed entity: “We won’t

speak your name / In the same breath as the lives you so cowardly claim”. A sense

of being borne-down-upon pervades this track.


The single release closes out with “Humdrum”, a nervous-foot-tapper driven

by a loopy bassline and rapid drums. Dickson started out on drums, and he makes

them the engine here. They roll into the opening, keep up the pace during verses,

and frequently flash out in eager rolls and chaotic fills. Vocals squeak and drop,

singing of panicked desire: for work (“Sell your body to the first one who looks upon

it”), for fame (“Cracking skulls for a place on the lecture circuit”) – and, in the keening

chorus, for love: “Oh, would you come on back to me / I’m dreaming of your love”…

“You know I wanna be your slave / Oh god, where does it end?”. There’s a

desperation in this track that summarises the record’s mood: panic, needy panic.


Watch the official video for 'Shakedown' below:





Upcoming Live Dates:

8 NOV // Brighton, Mutations Festival


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