Review: Dennis Ellsworth's Chesterfield Dweller of the Year

Dennis Ellsworth, frontman of Music PEI award winning Haunted Hearts, recently released a heartwrenching album of beautiful music. After leading hard-hitting Island acts, including the Rude Mechanicals, Haunted Hearts, and Battery Point, Ellsworth split from a band and recorded tracks by himself. While his daunting musical persona might be less so outside of Atlantic Canada, Ellsworth's name is becoming synonymous with honest, romantic, sweet alt-country songs. His minimalist solo album is ridden with fabulous Atlantic acts, including the perpetually lovely Jill Barber.

You might picture him having adorable dates with Leslie Feist. His tunes are simple, sweet, and kind. They’re a bit of a (positive) stretch from his Rude Mechanicals days, but not much stretch from Haunted Hearts. There's much to be said for a simple ballad without pretension, and Ellsworth is committed to representing himself as honestly as possible. To the less keen ear, the album could easily be written off as a sad bastard manifesto. His songs are very capably constructed but all somewhat downtrodden - bereft of a sense of humour or irony, Ellsworth makes songs that are straight-forward observations set to tune. But somehow whatever he's observing seems much nicer than my observations. And somehow, underneath the melancholy, there's a great lurking charm that makes Ellsworth one of Atlantic Canada's most compelling song writers.

Sounds like: Cuff the Duke, Blue Rodeo, Dan Mangan
Buy via: Sandbar Music