EllaHarp Releases Sophomore Album, 'Screaming Into The Void’ and Kicks Off Mini Tour
Above: Screaming Into The Void Artwork
ELLAHARP
RELEASES SOPHOMORE FULL-LENGTH ALBUM
SCREAMING INTO THE VOID
WEST COAST ALBUM RELEASE
SHOWS KICK OFF TONIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO
NASHVILLE, TN (September 17, 2021) — San Francisco-based singer-songwriter and DIY artist EllaHarp has released her sophomore full-length album, Screaming Into The Void. The new album offers a unique blending of folk and Americana with pop sensibilities, highlighting dark, thoughtful lyrics and memorable hooks.
“My favorite albums are those that bring you into a visual and audio world of their own, with each track adding something to the last, and lyrics that you think about later without realizing that’s what you’re doing,” says EllaHarp. “Albums that leave you with a sort of melancholic hope that is unique to that experience. Of course music is as subjective as it gets, but if someone listening to Screaming Into The Void walked away with a bit of that feeling I’d be happy camping.”
Finding early media support by The Bluegrass Situation, PARADE and Thread, among others, the album features her own unique harp and banjo. Built based on the demand of touring, both instruments were designed by EllaHarp to fit in an airplane’s overhead compartment. Truly one-of-a-kind instruments, the harp and banjo are heard in enchanting performances throughout the new album’s nine tracks.
Laura Whitmore of PARADE raved about the album’s title track, saying: “sweetly rhythmic with lilting vocals…EllaHarp’s ‘Screaming Into the Void’ is both soothing and penetrating. The repeating harp arpeggiations carry the tune, while the lyrics express her intense frustration. The result is a lovely paradox.”
In celebration of the album’s release, EllaHarp will kick off a short run of shows on the west coast, starting tonight in Half Moon Bay, CA.
Catch EllaHarp On The Road:
9/17 — Old Princeton Landing — Half Moon Bay, CA
9/25 — The Hotel Cafe — Los Angeles, CA
10/3 — Atlantis Lounge — Portland, Oregon
Screaming Into The Void Track Listing:
“Screaming Into the Void”
“Bittersweet”
“Better”
“Whiskey Garden”
“Sunshine and Roses”
“Shotgun Sadie (ft. The False Bottom Band)”
“Late Summer”
“Black Road”
“Madd Love”
Above: EllaHarp; PC: Holly B Rose
About EllaHarp
EllaHarp, the moniker of Ella Dawn Jenkins, is also a multi-instrumentalist who brings new life to the harp and banjo. Being a true-to-the-core DIY artist who not only built and lived in a 120 sq ft tiny house, and designs/makes her clothing, Ella built her own unique harp and banjo. It was based on the demand of touring that led her to design everything to fit in an airplane’s overhead compartment. Truly one-of-a-kind instruments, the harp and banjo are heard in enchanting performances throughout the new album’s nine tracks. “I desperately conceptualized an overhead bin sized harp to tour with and found nothing on the market meeting my somewhat specific vision,” shares Ella. “I started drawing on cardboard cutouts and convinced a friend in metal fabrication that an aluminum harp was a good idea, despite neither of us having any experience on the matter and no example of one having been built.”
Ella--though she never met them--comes from a line of accomplished musicians. Both of her grandfather’s carry heavy accolades; to name a few: Her paternal grandfather, the composer, conductor and arranger Gordon Jenkins has many credits to his name including the fact that he penned the song “Crescent City Blues” (Decca Records) which Johnny Cash shamelessly ripped off for his well-known song “Folsom Prison Blues.” Her mother’s father, Bill Ulyate, was a saxophonist, studio musician and band leader at Disneyland (Carnation Plaza).
For EllaHarp, Screaming Into The Void underscores a period of growth and overcoming seemingly inevitable adversities of life. “I think of albums in chapters, and this album was my previous chapter,” says Ella. “‘Screaming Into the Void’ was one of the first songs I wrote after Who Asked You Back came out in 2018 and ‘Black Road’ was written when most of the album was recorded after a gnarly accident that totaled my truck in 2020. For me, it's observations and pain and processing”