Ego Ella May

A poetic songwriter whose lyrical voice places her in the lineage of Erykah Badu and Amel Larrieux, Ego Ella May has specialized since the early 2010s in progressive, soul-rooted R&B that balances understatement with expressive depth. The South London native reached a new level of momentum toward the end of the decade, issuing the 2019 compilation So Far as her first full-length project and following it the next year with Honey for Wounds, an album featuring contributions from Theo Croker, Wu-Lu, and Alfa Mist. She continued the sequence with a pair of Fieldnotes EPs released between 2021 and 2022, the second of which turned its focus toward the nuances of romantic relationships.

May introduced herself with the self-released digital EP The Tree in 2013. Sparse and atmospheric yet engaging, the set evoked the tone of early narcotic alternative R&B records such as Spacek’s Curvatia and Kissey Asplund’s Plethora. Breathing Underwater and Zero arrived in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Although all three early EPs were later withdrawn, selected tracks—including “How Far,” “Tea & Sympathy,” and the Kojey Radical collaboration “Come On”—were compiled on So Far, her 2019 debut for the Tru Thoughts label. For Honey for Wounds she expanded her circle of collaborators to include Joe-Armon Jones, Oscar Jerome, and Andrew Ashong alongside the previously mentioned artists.

The first Fieldnotes EP emerged in 2021 after May wrote and recorded the material with Geo Jordan, Flwr Chyld, and returning partner Eun while reflecting on successive COVID-19 lockdowns. Fieldnotes, Pt II followed in 2022 and presented a comparatively calm atmosphere, highlighted by the incisive single “Introvert Hotline.”