Memory Islands

Ellie Wilson is an explorer of the contemporary classical, folk and electronica worlds, and her new album, Memory Islands, documents memories and journeys through immersive, reflective and occasionally playful soundscapes. It highlights her experimental ambition and positions her as a violinist comfortable in discovering new and alternative paths in her music.

The album opens with an eerie call, with the violin requesting a moment of reflection in ‘Unnamed Unseen’. ‘Delta’ offers a mesmerising and trance-induced invitation. In ‘By the Time I Got Back Pt1’, Wilson’s grandfather offers naval memories that drift in and out among a medley of violin lilts.

The album continues with the more electronic dance-based contemplation of ‘Mindpop’ and then with the lengthy beckoning of the violin in ‘Halyard’. ‘Will I Dream’ provides darker overtones before the album concludes with a re-imagined ‘Pt 2’ of ‘By the Time I Got Back’. The former member of Stick in the Wheel is very much exploring new directions that offer both depth and light, melodic folk lines blended with contemporary overtones, drones and occasional glitches and twitches. The album offers lingering traces of the past and the sense and spirit of place with the majority of sounds being created with the violin, regularly sampled, processed and tinkered with.