Single Review: No-One

Ellery Daines is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and mixing engineer from Nelson, now based in the Norwegian Arctic city of Tromsø. Over the last five years he wrote, recorded, and mixed his debut album, Failure Thirty Minutes Deep, scheduled for release in 2022 and No-One is the first single and is a truly solo affair as Ellery performed all instruments and vocal parts, as well as producing and mixing the song. It will be interesting indeed to hear the album when it comes out, as No-One is one of the most intriguing, clean, emotional, dispassionate, concerning, and enthralling singles I have come across for some time.

In just four minutes we are taken on a real journey, a ride of feelings, and it all starts with a drone chord on the keyboards. Like a bagpipe, with the drone and the chanter, this provides a backing for a very melodic vocal with loads of reverb which somehow comes across with no passion, almost sterile. A picked electric guitar and cymbals make an entrance at 30 seconds, and these somehow strengthen the sterility without adding depth, but does add complexity and more shades of grey. Well into the second minute and there are harmonies and a few sparse drums, but gradually the accompaniment starts to build until it all drops away at 2 minutes, Ellery sings Without you I’m not real and we go into Coldplay/U2 anthemic rock with riffing guitars, vocals with an edge. The chorus is sung more softly, but the music has been ramped up and we are now on a different plane. Gradually the guitar chords are replaced, and we are back with a drone, but this time in a higher register, with the vocals again being everything until finally they drift away as well.

The video was filmed in New Zealand by director Alex Hargreaves, producer Caitlin Shinnick and DOP Piotr Ziomus – the team known for their work with Devilskin and Alien Weaponry. It is a raw and worrying video in many ways, with a youngster inside a building which is obviously old and derelict, and one cannot help but feel that they are trapped in some way. There are loads of dramatic shots, in a greyed out colour palette which also tugs at the heartstrings, until eventually we see the outside just as the music changes tone. Inside, everything was strained, but outside there is freedom. Combined with the lyrics and instruments, this is incredibly powerful and is an incredible introduction to Ellery and No-One.