Back in 1980, a rather festive Jona Lewie sang about stopping the cavalry. Some thirty-five years later, currently unsigned London-based songstress Ella On The Run is touching on the same subject, but with a little less tinsel and injecting a lot more electrifying dance-pop panache.
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Purring to life with an eerie, almost tribal intro, the Berklee College of Music graduate’s latest offering, ‘Cavalry’, marries electro-pop beats and haunting vocals with a certain edginess à la Foxes, BANKS and La Roux. With a nod to classic eighties synthpop without wallowing in its own nostalgia, Ella’s voice has all the power to carry the biggest house tracks but with a danceable, laid-back quality; what Clash Music has dubbed “attitude-laden pop against cutting edge production”.
Simply brimming with massive remix potential (ahem, BBC Radio 1), the soaring, climactic chorus of ‘Cavalry’ sees Ella chant, “Bang bang bang, do you feel the echo on the drum? / Here comes the cavalry and their guns”, encapsulating her infectious synth-drenched sound with the help of LA co- writer Matthew Bang and Swedish producer Lukasz. Following her critically acclaimed War of Words EP and a sold-out show in her home city, Ella On The Run is deservedly making a name for herself and standing out amongst a generation of alt-pop princesses.
Words by Kristen Sinclair