Praise for previous work
“a genuinely show-stopping sound” James Belfield – NZ Listener
“This is the sound of your new favourite band” Simon Sweetman
“an extraordinary showcase of originality and musicality, which stands out in the current New Zealand landscape” Barry Saunders, Warratahs
“whole-hearted, deep-hued, visceral tales in the Americana-country-folk-blues vein, with such beautiful warmth and fragility you’re hooked from the first glide of lap steel to the last soaring vocal phrase” Lydia Jenkin, New Zealand Herald
Pōneke/Wellington-based singer-songwriter Ebony Lamb shares her latest single ‘Drive Me Around’ from her upcoming debut self-titled solo album, due for release on October 20th, through Nadia Reid‘s boutique record label – Slow Time Records. The album was made in collaboration with two of New Zealand’s most celebrated modern musicians, Bic Runga and Kody Nielson (Opossom, Silicon, UMO), along with her long-time musical collaborator, Gram Antler. To mark the release, Ebony and her band will embark on a seven-date Aotearoa tour starting October 27th. Tickets available at Banishedmusic.com.
‘Drive Me Around’, is an ode to friendship and the unvarnished realities, positive and negative, of living and working as an artist. Lounging against a spare marching drum rhythm, cinematic guitars and a haunting Mellotron flute, Ebony sings in a sultry and nostalgic style, remembering teenage years spent driving through Hawkes Bay with a dear, old friend and the highs and lows of the creative life.
Ebony reflects, “I’m thinking about one of my oldest best friends. We grew up together in Hawkes Bay, and he really looked out for me in my formative years, driving us all over the place, spending time together, experimenting, and experiencing life. We don’t see each other anymore, but I still think about him that way.”
The accompanying music video, directed by Shyam Patel and Jacob Munro, visually captures Ebony’s emotions through a series of physically expressive black-and-white scenes set in Wellington’s central business district. Locations include the brutalist architecture of Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa – The National Library of New Zealand, the Woodward Street pedestrian tunnel, and the Aurora Terrace Motorway overbridge.
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Ebony Lamb – ‘Drive Me Around’
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About EBONY LAMB:
A captivating work of impressionistic memories, observations and intimate confessions, Ebony wrote her debut self-titled solo album while coming into prominence as an in-demand portrait photographer within New Zealand’s contemporary literature and independent music scenes. The release comes five years after her alt-country band, Eb & Sparrow, amicably parted ways in 2018.
Recorded on vintage analog studio gear and mastered to tape, EBONY LAMB finds collaborators Bic Runga and Cody Nielson placing Ebony’s distinct, fragile-but-firm voice within a cinematic confluence of jazz, folk, psychedelia, alt-country and ambient pop. Written over the last five years while coming to terms with the realities of a changing world, themes of gratitude, loss, acceptance and aspiration run through the album like a river, especially in the nocturnal groove of ‘My Daughter My Sister My Son’ and ‘Brother Get Me Home’.
From the album’s opening notes, Ebony expresses herself in non-judgmental terms, singing with a raw tenderness that draws listeners into her reflections on friendship (‘Drive Me Around’), the complexity and contradictions of success (‘Successful Feelings’), and connections in seemingly hopeless moments (‘Come, Put A Record On’). Yet while her songs can feel like she’s sitting just across from you, Runga and Nielson’s production imbues them with an expansive sensibility.
Spare, vivid and moving, EBONY LAMB is an album that captures a defining artistic leap from a talented artist coming into her own. Singing to herself and the listener, she implores us to continue reaching forward without losing sight of what we have and the elements of our lives that truly matter.
About Ebony Lamb:
Ebony Lamb writes with a poetic voice and a vivid, surrealistic intimacy. The New Zealand singer-songwriter and photographer turns the minutiae of everyday life and the defining memories that stay with us into a rich melange of folk, jazz, soul, and ambient pop. The Wellington-based artist spent her formative years as a traveller, mother, and worker of many jobs, eventually co-founding the alt-country band Eb & Sparrow in 2010. Drawing comparisons to Gillian Welch, Cat Power and Neko Case, Ebony released three critically-acclaimed albums with the band before embarking on a solo career under her own name. Ebony has supported international and national acts such as Tiny Ruins, Nadia Reid, Marlon Williams, Beth Orton, Rodriguez, Bic Runga, Tami Neilson, Lawrence Arabia and more.
Ebony Lamb – EBONY LAMB
1.My Daughter My Sister My Son
2. Take My Hands At Night
3. Salt, Sand Sea
4. Midnight Is My Name
5. Swim To Me
6. Drive Me Around
7. Successful Feelings
8. Come, Put A Record On
9. Brother Get Me Home
10. Star Confessor
Ebony Lamb – Ebony Lamb is out October 20 via Slow Time Records
Follow Ebony Lamb:
Official Site / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Youtube / Bandcamp
