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Ellis Paul

Feature

Lollipop Review of "Sweet Mistakes"


If youve followed Ellis Paul from backstreet club to broom closet bar the way I have, this disc may shock you. If youve only heard the Boston folk rockers accidental pop hits, "The World Aint Slowin Down" (on the soundtrack to Me, Myself & Irene) and "Sweet Mistakes" (featured in Shallow Hal), you may find yourself confusedly surrounded by acoustic guitars. And if youve never heard him at all, Ellis creative, mouthy poetry is bound to teach you a few things.

Sweet Mistakes is exactly what the title says it is: A playfully experimental recording of 10 "sleepers" Ellis used to drag out only for concerts, plus a remix of the catchy "3,000 Miles" and the gleaming "Sweet Mistakes." All other songs aside, "Sweet Mistakes" is worth the price of the album: It is a stunning "Cats Cradle" for our generation.

As a whole, the album is a mixed bag of pop, folk, and misfiled musical dabbles independently recorded in a small studio in the company of friends. "These are first-run versions in all their vulnerable glory," Ellis explains. There are sentimental poems like "Kristians Song" about a guitarist who plays in the subways "for old friends he dont know"; "New Orleans," a minor-key ballad about drunken love on Bourbon Street, and "Seventeen Septembers," a formless ramble of love thoughts and sweet chords. There are also pop tunes; a weird electrified funk mix of "The Martyrs Lounge" (one of Ellis finest lyrics about a "bar up in heaven"); a countrified love quip about a woman whos so hard to sleep with that her lover buys her a roll-away bed, and a lightly rapped version of "20th Century," a poem Ellis occasionally recites live.

This is an outstanding musicians pet project, a prized collection of previously homeless musical dabblings. Not Ellis greatest work, its nonetheless valuable. Its filled with the kind of phrases and ideas that will make most of us nod understandingly, knowing we never thought of it that way  and simultaneously gasping that we feel exactly that way. If you can step up and dare to face acoustic guitars, you might just hear a poet interpret the inside of yourself. (www.ellispaul.com) -- Jamie Kiffel for Lollipop Magazine