Ellen and The Escapades

Ellen and The Escapades are not a band that rely on energetic stage presence or pseudo-rockstar posturing to hold their audience rapt.

Why else would you choose to launch your new single on Friday the 13th on an evening when there is a full moon rising.

The back room at The Castle Hotel is an intimate space at the best of times, and with a sold out show for Ellen & The Escapades, it is transformed into a pressure cooker.

Things then went a little quiet for a while before the release of last year’s critically acclaimed All the Crooked Scenes.

On the day that British Summer Time ends you can suddenly start to sense that real success for Ellen Smith and her four Escapades may be just about to begin. One album, one EP and five singles into a three and half year career their cover of R Kelly’s The World’s Greatest has already provided triumphal accomp

The band only released their debut album All the Crooked Scenes earlier this month (16 April) and are dutifully doing a round of cities.

Three months later and a change of venue finds me on a cold wet evening in the delightfully air-conditioned loft of the Lexington.