Home is the first album by the talented multi-instrumentalist Ecki since his 2017 Engineers. Contributing with vocals, guitar, piano, synths, Hammond and drum programming himself, he is joined on the album by several top-grade musicians, with double bass played by Danny Thompson (John Martyn, Nick Drake, Richard Thompson), drums by Alex Reeves (Elbow, Bat For Lashes, Anna Calvi), Rhodes piano by David Phillips, clarinet by Gustaf Ljunggren, guitar and bodhrán by John Ward, violin by Mario Price, mandolin by Jimmy Bowskill (The Sheepdogs) and tenor guitar by Lowell ‘Banana’ Levinger (The Youngbloods/Little Steven and Disciples of Soul).
Released under Ecki’s White Star Bulb Company, Home is a soft-spoken homage to threads and tunes collected over 20 years and lovingly crafted into one of the best indie albums of 2021.
Home opens with the aptly named Beached, a softly caressing tune against the backdrop of ocean waves; this is followed by Lost, the first single to be released from the album and the first song Ecki ever wrote. Its quietly haunting lines seem to carry more than a touch of autobiographical reflection: “I’ve never been one who easily found the words, I’ve never been sure of what to do.”
On Home, Ecki opts less for the Tame Impalaesque sound of his Marxophonia or the smooth beat of Ringing a Bell, and more for the kind of solitary reflection you find yourself lost in at 1a.m. on a foggy November night. There is a sense of looking back, of holding the threads of many years and weaving of them a new kind of blanket. Maybe it has been that kind of year or two; maybe we are all Waiting For the Punchline.
Home is one of those albums you find it hard not to listen to on repeat, segueing its way from the subtly swinging Listen through the delightfully sad I’m Sorry But I Want You and the Freud-approved Lord Knows Why to the final track of the album, which I at first misread as If You Go Away, You Always Come Back; turns out, there is a Can in there somewhere, filling the spaces between the notes with more hope than 2021 might appear to merit.
Home will be available to buy on CD and stream and download on all digital platforms on Friday 26 November.
Whether you prefer to stream or enjoy your albums the good old way, Home is the one not to miss out on in 2021.
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