TYLER ELLIS Releases New Album, DOWN BY THE DON w/ *Focus Observe* “LOVE LETTERS”
Award-winning singer-songwriter and grasp storyteller Tyler Ellis as soon as once more shares his distinctive, inviting model to deliver his tales to life on his eighth album thus far, Down by the Don.
The 14-song album was launched to all main platforms on June 12th.
On the heels of his broadly acclaimed dwell album Better-Than, Tyler Ellis shares extra of his wry, considerate songs about love and life in his new album Down By the Don. His hearty, heat, and rugged voice lends itself properly to the tales crafted for this album, and his longtime good friend and musician Mark Thackway supplies sturdy help with acoustic guitar and backing vocals all through.
“Give and Keep in mind” is Ellis’s lyrical extension of the common concept that we should “forgive and neglect,” as we attempt to discover the gold in a major romantic relationship, in between “the tough patches and the bumps within the street.” Typically that is finest completed by saying, as he does right here, “Let’s make tonight a humdinger.”
The album’s title music, “Down By The Don,” is a modest celebration of a very good, supportive friendship. “I dwell near the Don River in Toronto,” says Ellis, “and very often a buddy and I’d stroll the ‘crushed path’ that follows the river to Lake Ontario and ‘shoot the breeze.’”
“Three Issues” softens Ellis’s unusually saucy strategy to the bodily elements of real love by having the good Arlene Bishop sing your complete music in unison with Ellis, giving the tune a John Prine and Iris DeMent “In Spite of Ourselves” vibe.
“Sunpatch” is Ellis’s fond remembrance of a closing go to along with his brother Rob within the inside of British Columbia, simply months earlier than he handed away of Parkinson’s illness in February of 2025. The music was impressed by a poem that Rob wrote. “We hadn’t spent that a lot time collectively through the years (this nation is large),” says Ellis, “so, a small silver lining of his sickness was the weeks I stayed within the mountains with him.”
“Image on the Fridge,” written throughout COVID lockdowns, was impressed by a photograph of Ellis’s daughter when she was fairly younger. It prompted a flood of recollections, from Harry Potter nightmares to Harry Types thrills to a “lights out” efficiency down on the native rink.
“Love Letters” is basically a music about individuals pouring their hearts out via the ages. Ellis co-wrote the music along with his musical good friend and frequent collaborator Julian Taylor, who additionally sings alongside on this recording. Taylor reduce his personal model of “Love Letters,” which was included on his JUNO-nominated album Pathways, and which garnered a nomination for the Worldwide People Music Awards Tune of the Yr in 2024.
A easy music about being current within the second, open to present prospects, and never worrying concerning the future, “Tonight” is – because the music says – “good.”
It occurs on a regular basis, however “Love at First Sight Saturday Evening” deftly captures the expertise and options Toronto-based singer-songwriters Stephen York and Katey Morley on backing vocals.
“‘People’ is a music I wrote in the course of the ‘quiet time’ of the pandemic,” says Ellis. “The Riverboat Monday weekly open stage, that I nonetheless run in Toronto, was held on Zoom for 100 Mondays. It performed a vital half in sustaining my sense of well-being throughout these making an attempt occasions. This can be a tip of the hat to all performers who attended, and a basic remark concerning the significance of getting constructive individuals in your life.”
For Ellis, the aim of “Swan Tune” was to conjure up the bittersweet emotions and fond recollections that come up simply after the top of a long-lasting love affair. He succeeded.
“Your Smile” is likely to be probably the most John Prine-like music that Ellis has ever created, and is in the identical league as something that the masterful singer-songwriter ever recorded. It takes a hard-earned, balanced view of the ups and downs of a romance. As Ellis sings, “Half full or half empty / Will depend on how I’m wanting on the cup.”
In a uncommon, jazzy second from Ellis, the mild love music “Swept Away” options an unlikely accompaniment from acclaimed Canadian flautist Invoice McBirnie, dancing delicately all through.