Dove Ellis – Blizzard
After accompanying Geese on their sold-out US tour, listeners began to wonder what eclectic indie wishing well Irish-born musician Dove Ellis had sprung from. With no major industry ties and no social-media presence to boost him, Ellis has set himself apart from the typical modern trajectory toward stardom. As he releases his self-produced debut record, Blizzard, it is clear that Ellis intends to keep both himself and his music as genuine and natural as possible.
Though Blizzard contains only ten songs, each feels dense with metaphor and self-contained storytelling. There is no obvious throughline between them, even as themes of love and pain surface more often than not. Yet, despite the thick, introspective poetry, Ellis reveals remarkably little about his personal life. Of the four singles released ahead of the album – To the Sandals, Pale Song, Love Is, and Heaven Has No Wings – each offers only fragments rather than blatant retellings of his life.
To the Sandals, Ellis’s debut single appears later in the album and frames him as a self-described sadist wrestling with guilt, striving to transform his hurt into something meaningful. In contrast, Heaven Has No Wings, the last single released but positioned mid-album, explores the aftermath of trauma and compares it to transcendence, suggesting that it requires more than passive surrender to the heavens. Both songs are deeply intimate, yet they only provide hints of the darker moments of his life, and this makes for a refreshing approach to vulnerable songwriting that resists oversharing.
While Blizzard immerses itself in metaphor, Ellis never drowns in it. He refuses to caricature himself, a choice that strengthens the storytelling across the record. When You Tie Your Hair Up, for instance, places him in a moment of desperation. Slow and steady, the song has him calling upon “Annie” for comfort. He is never melodramatic, but rather simply honest. Jaundice follows and, in a move that becomes expected by the record’s midpoint, pivots sharply both thematically and sonically. Upbeat and carried by an accordion, it grapples with self-perception. As with much of Blizzard, Ellis inserts himself into the narrative but ultimately expands the message beyond his own experience, making his words all the more compelling.
Although comparisons can be made to Jeff Buckley or Thom Yorke of Radiohead regarding vocal performance or Bright Eyes in the sonic sense, Dove Ellis is a force of his own. Each song on Blizzard demands complete attention, and instead of sending listeners toward familiar reference points, the record encourages listeners to discover who Dove Ellis is and what he stands for. This confident debut deepens the sense of mystery around him, and while it is tempting to speculate about what the future may hold for Ellis, it is just as satisfying to remain absorbed in the ten stories he tells on Blizzard.
Taryn Crowley
Image: Xander Lewis
Blizzard is released on 5th December 2025. For further information or to order the album, visit Dove Ellis’s website here.
Watch the video for Pale Song here:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
RSS