more from
Agati
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Across The Water

by Carwyn Ellis

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in gatefold digisleeve, with artwork by Tayseer Barakat. Limited to 200 copies.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Across The Water via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Limited Edition 12" Vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited Edition vinyl version of Across The Water, limited to 100 copies.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Across The Water via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
2.
3.
4.
Crossing 02:52
5.
Seventy Four 03:51
6.
7.
Thank God 04:24
8.
9.
10.
White Horses 02:20

about

50% of the proceeds of this album will go to the Oasis Centre for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Cardiff, Wales.
www.oasiscardiff.org

Across The Water is the first solo album proper by Carwyn Ellis. Aside from one or two exceptions, it's a stripped back, mostly piano & vocal album, far removed from his psych pop records with Colorama or his recent Latin American excursions with Rio 18. Recorded with Edwyn Collins and Jake Hutton at Collins's studio in Helmsdale, the album has a strong message - as Carwyn puts it:

"This album is dedicated to the brave people who’ve crossed the oceans across the millennia in search of a better life - people to be admired and respected, not vilified and scorned. And it is dedicated to the memory of the many who tried but did not make it, but hopefully found peace instead."

The music itself is concerned with the imagined voyage of a migrant traveling in search of a better life - their hopes, fears, the dangers, sadness for those who did not make it, and the fate that awaits them when they do reach their intended destination. The record is predominantly focused on the route between northern Africa and southern Europe but could be applied to any of the perilous routes traveled by migrants now and in the past: the English Channel, the Rio Grande and the Caribbean for instance - and the uncertainty, struggles and often outright hostility that awaits them.

Four of the album's ten tracks are piano instrumentals, with 'The Boy On The Beach' being dedicated to the memory of Alan Kurdi, the three year old Syrian boy who lost his life in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, along with his mother and brother.
The vocal tracks are primarily pleas for more empathy and compassion for refugees or migrants, whoever or wherever they may be: 'Seventy Four' relates to the needless (and sadly not isolated) tragedy in early 2017 when 74 bodies of migrants, mostly from Sub-Saharan African countries, washed up on a beach in northern Libya. The album's sole cover version, 'Bound for Lampedusa' is Ellis's take on The Gentle Good's beautiful original which concerns itself with the epic, perilous journeys to Europe of migrants from those countries south of the Sahara. Ultimately 'Freedom of Movement' is a cry for just that - not just within Europe, but for all people, everywhere.

credits

released May 6, 2022

Carwyn Ellis - Piano, Vocals, Mellotron, Guitar, Bass and Synthesizer

with

Shawn Lee - Drums (on track 2)
Jake Hutton - Drums (on track 5)
Ifan Dafydd - Keyboards and programming (on track 8)

Produced by Carwyn Ellis, Edwyn Collins and Jake Hutton
Engineered by Jake Hutton
Mixed by Pierre Duplan
Mastered by Andrea de Bernardi
Recorded at Clashnarrow Studio in Helmsdale, Scotland
All songs written by Carwyn Ellis except track 3 written by Gareth Bonello

Cover Art by Tayseer Barakat
Design by Richard Chitty

license

all rights reserved

tags

shows

contact / help

Contact Carwyn Ellis

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Carwyn Ellis, you may also like: