Ellen and the Escapades - All The Crooked Scenes

With a voice that rises from a slow-smoked, raspy whisper, frontwoman Ellen Smith leads this Leeds band of mellow folk/rockers on All The Crooked Scenes, the promising full-length debut from Ellen and the Escapades arriving April 16 in the U.K. Reminiscent at time of a more low-keyed K.T Tunstall, the melodies are graceful, the moods at turns pensive and briskly no-nonsense as track such as "Coming Back Home" glide by on a luxuriant bed of acoustic picking and dense keyboard layers, initially stripped elements shifting gears with the kick of snare drum. "This Ace I've Burned" follows in a long line of British folk shot through with a low-wattage electric spark, Smith's voice a marvel of husky, unassuming understatement. In-studio videos after the jump...

Ellen and the Escapades - "Coming Back Home"

Ellen and the Escapades - "This Ace I've Burned"

A tip o' the hat to Mike for giving us the heads up on this one...