“Motel Blues” is the new EP from singer-songwriter/actor Ella Hunt releasing September 12th from Historical Fiction Records.  The second in her three part “Triptych” series of EPs, the vignettes present a larger portrait of the foundations of her musical landscape. “Motel Blues” highlights three songs written by Loudon Wainwright III that shaped the songwriter in her formative years. Reflecting on their influence she says, “I still remember the first time I heard [the song] Motel Blues. I was 14, it was the first Loudon song I ever heard. The un-fussy-ness of the lyrics, their humour, clarity and humanity was so striking. I don’t think I’d ever heard such lonely words but I felt so held by the humanity of them.”

On the EP’s title track, Hunt’s vocals are intensely intimate, adorned with sparse piano, shuddering synthesizers, and a delicate vocoder creating a sonic refuge from the sadness in Wainwright’s lyrics. “I relate to a lot of the loneliness in Loudon’s writing — this permanent sense of otherness paired with desire for connection. And though at 14 when I first heard it I’d never experienced being in a  motel room alone, the spirit of the writing felt so familiar to me. And now, after a decade of  working as an actress, staying in strange towns and many grotty hotels, motels, b&b’s, I wholeheartedly relate to needing a person and their comfort to cut through the sterility and solitude of  those lonely places.”

Produced by Thomas Bartlett (Yoko Ono, Florence & the Machine), the sonic world of “Motel Blues” is built around Hunt’s vocals, creating an air of fragility and honesty.  Reflecting on the process Hunt recalls, “Thomas actually encouraged me to record the lead vocal lines without any predetermined accompaniment or even click, so that they could feel like my stream of consciousness, free of any kind of meter or predicted emotional arc, so they feel raw to me.”

The effect of this process invites the listener to a private place.  The sparse production and deeply felt performances create the feeling of a secret benign whispered in your ear.  At the center of the performances are the lyrics and the stories they tell, “Loudon’s lyrics gave me a window into adulthood and into my dad and his first marriage, that had previously felt inaccessible and out of bounds. These covers are my way of honoring Loudon’s impact on me as a person and as a writer.”