British-American singer-songwriter Ella Spencer has just launched her latest single, the piano-driven ballad ‘I Never Told You About Oregon’, written while on a road trip down America’s West Coast on 2023. Spencer’s heartfelt vocal winds its way through a gorgeous melody, while her gently rolling keys flow on currents of nostalgia, loss and grief. That grief stays with us permanently, while her sensitive words are full of emotion, immediate and universal. Her feelings and relationships are illustrated with finely-drawn images, such as a fading bruise.
The version of the song filmed below captivates with just Ella and her piano, delicately stripped back and exposed. But I urge you to check out the newly-released single version, which was recorded in Portland with Jerry Joseph at the home studio of musician, engineer and producer Steve Drizos (The Jackmormons). As well as co-production duties, the talented Joseph and Drizos perform on the song, delivering soaring backing vocals, percussion and guitars. Joseph’s National Resonator has a wonderful tone while Tim Murphy adds bass and electric guitar, resulting in a rich, full sound.
Spencer says of the song: “I wrote the opening line ‘there’s a bruise on my nail from Oregon / every day it gets closer to oblivion’ before anything else, literally about shutting my nail in the door frame of the tiny house I was staying in on a commune in Oregon and seeing the bruise form and then fade away over the next few months. Watching that physical process, which coincided with my Grandma passing away, and feeling further and further away from that time but still deeply connected to it, was the inspiration for the song.” Like this memorable tune, elements of loss stay with you. Absorb yourself in Ella Spencer’s intimate reflections.
