Speaking her truth from the Pacific Northwest, 23-year old indie/folk singer-songwriter, Ella Ruby, has just celebrated the release of her debut EP, baby blue. This collection of songs is delicate and personal, giving us the first extended look into Ella’s music and mind.
Fans are already familiar with the first two tracks of this EP, “last year” and “baths”, as these were released as singles earlier in 2022. I had the pleasure of speaking with Ella a few months back and one thing we discussed is the use of her second-person narration. As a queer artist, Ella wants her music to relate with all audiences, allowing any person of any gender, sexuality, etc. to live in her story and fall in love with her songs.
baby blue leads with “last year”, the second single Ella had ever released. It’s tumultuous, and filled with the pain of past lovers. She had previously described this track being “about the frustration of getting over someone – as I’m sure most of us have experienced, unfortunately enough – we have a hard time remembering the details of past relationships or loves, but some stick around relentlessly.”
Next up is “baths”, which gave us the first look into Ella’s growing music career. “baths” is much more soft-spoken and fragile than the track before it, but provides one of the most detailed perspectives of Ella’s storytelling abilities.
“in my car” is probably my favorite off the EP. It’s the perfect theme song for this fall season with a simple acoustic melody and an ode to all of our favorite safe places in this loud and scary world. There’s so much to pick apart within this song’s lyrics and can be interpreted differently by each person who listens.
“l.a. lover” picks up the pace a bit with the sweet and subtle shake of a maraca and a happy little love story, then mixing into the final track of baby blue, “arbors”. Ella describes “arbors” as being “as soft-as-silk” and I couldn’t agree more. Her voice, coupled with the dreamy strings of a guitar, make for the perfect and serene ending to Ella’s big debut.
Overall, baby blue gives us all the wonderful emotions we need from a small indie-folk artist. It’s gut wrenching and breakable, but equally alluring and tender. Recently starting a Master’s program and reeling from this release, we are wishing the best of luck to Ella and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for her and her career.
Ella Ruby
