Some artists you get tired of rather quickly.
Two or three albums in and you simply lose any interest their initial offerings may have generated because they’re basically making the same record over and over again.
You will never be able to say that about Dennis Ellsworth. Not yet anyway.
In a career that now spans more than 20 years and eight albums, the P.E.I. singer-songwriter has proven to be someone whose work you can always look to for something fresh and original, carefully conceived and skillfully executed by someone with a firm grip on the tunesmith’s craft.
And so it is with Ellsworth’s latest offering, Common Senseless, a 13-song set recorded over the past 18 months at The Hill Sound Studios.
Ellsworth served as primary producer for the set with additional production coming from Adam Gallant who also engineered the record, assisted Ellsworth with the mix and played bass as well as some drums.
Ellsworth wrote 12 of the album’s 13 tracks and co-wrote the remaining track, “Cracked in Half”, with Katie McGarry.
He played multiple instruments on the set, bringing in other players where needed on bass and drums. Roger Carter laid down most of the drum trucks, as well as some organ tracks. Alan Dowling and J.D. Hughes also sat in on drums.
Fast Facts
Singer-songwriter Dennis Ellsworth began work on Common Senseless before his last record, Things Change, had even been released. What began as a monthly recording session for publishing demos quickly took shape as a collection of songs. Ellsworth says it wasn’t apparent at first, but about 4 songs into the process he knew they were connected, sonically and thematically.
The material penned for Common Senseless, which follows the much-touted Joel Plaskett produced Things Change, is a diverse but well-balanced mix that covers a lot of ground from
upbeat alt-rock, and alt-country to folk and dreamy pop soundscapes that I could listen to over and over and most likely will.
Lyrically the record explores a number of themes from the bizarre state of current affairs in the world today. and the influence of social media in our lives to mental health, money, our irrationalities and matters of the heart. As with previous efforts Ellsworth writes with clarity, insight and great passion about those things with mean something to him.
And that passion clearly carries over to the studio where those ideas take shape and evolve.
Ellsworth is one of those artists I don’t see live as often as I might like to but when I do I am never disappointed because he always delivers. And he certainly delivers on this set.
Choice offerings here include “Better Luck Next Time”, “Whatever You Want”, “Compassion”, “Cracked in Half” and the title track, “Common Senseless”.
Rating
(Rating 4 out of 5 stars)
Doug Gallant is a freelance writer and well-known connoisseur of a wide variety of music. His On Track column will appear in The Guardian every second Saturday. To comment on what he has to say or to offer suggestions for future reviews, email him at [email protected].
