Ellen Beth Abdi announces her debut album with 'Sad Chord'
Manchester’s collaborative shooting star, Ellen Beth Abdi, burns brighter than ever as debut album details emerge with new single…
Sad Chord
“Something of a masterclass”
– Louder Than War
“Sharp lyrical insight with a distinctive sonic identity”
– Backseat Mafia
Ellen Beth Abdi – Sad Chord
OUT NOW
From her self-titled album, released Fri 23 May 2025
Sweet Twenty-Three Records via Republic Of Music
www.ellenbethabdi.co.uk
** CLICK FOR VIDEO / AUDIO **
A sense of musical wisdom, innate discipline and expansive creativity pervades the street-smart electro-soul from Ellen Beth Abdi, as the renowned, prolific collaborator turned towering solo virtuoso announces her self-titled debut album with her latest single, Sad Chord. Popping with synth signatures, swelling with slow-burning background energies and flowing with delicately placed words of potent and personal meaning, Manchester’s very worst kept multi-instrumental, genre-hopping secret combines the single’s release with news of her meticulously written, 10-track collection. Ellen Beth Abdi is set for a Fri 23 May 2025 on her own Sweet Twenty-Three label.
Sad Chord’s quirky video uniquely explores the artist’s relationships with a rolling cast of “anthropomorphised fruit-people” adding an extra layer of intrigue around an emerging artist freely flowing with creative energy.
Respectful of what’s been before whilst fearlessly setting sail into lesser chartered waters of ‘loops and wires’, plugged-in soul, jazz and elements of robust bedroom pop, Abdi’s story came rushing to light through collaborative ventures with A Certain Ratio, notably on their 1982 album, which also saw her tour extensively with the legendary experimentalists. Appearances on stage with New Order and a support slot with Stone Roses gave rise to Abdi’s reputation as a respected, rising star amongst her home city’s legend class. Yet, for all the main stage experience, Abdi’s own, detailed songcraft and painstaking production has pushed her sound beyond the limits of both time and her home city’s limits.
Releasing her peppy, keys-driven debut single, Tenterhooks, last month and rapidly following up with the beatsy and determinedly economical (clocking in under three-minutes), Sad Chord, Abdi shows that years of collaboration and being hard-wired into both the music history and the global sounds that pulse through Manchester’s streets have formed a confident, boundary-breaking artist to believe in.
Ellen says: “’Sad Chord’ is an exploration of keeping your own secrets. Thumping drums, throbbing bass and creeping flutes draw you in while smart, measured and sensual lyrics keep you guessing with this understated banger.”
Counting back almost a decade since her prodigious talents were first discovered and her solo touring and numerous support slots kick-started a journey around national and international venues, all of Abdi’s live experience, including sharing stages with Lady Blackbird, Courtney Pine and Angelique Kidjo, will be poured into dates arranged in celebration of the long- anticipated release of Ellen Beth Abdi. With more to be added, all current UK tour dates are as follows:
Fri 21 March – Manchester, Contact Theatre, Revel Music Summit
Thu 27 March – Manchester, Deaf Institute, supporting Dilettante
Fri 25 April – Manchester, Rat and Pigeon, supporting Moss Side Sauna Club
Sun 18 May – Manchester Jazz Festival
Fri 23 May – Bury, The Met
Thu 29 May – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms
Remaining tickets can be found by following links hosted at https://www.ellenbethabdi.co.uk/
Written and recorded in her home city over the last 18-months, Ellen Beth Abdi is to be released on multiple formats including vinyl, CD and digital. At the same time as releasing Sad Chord, Abdi announces the track listing for her the album as follows:
1. Who This World Is Made For
2. Thickskinpeel
3. Tenterhooks
4. Elsewhere
5. The Bad Dream
6. Sad Chord
7. Spellbound
8. Problem Child
9. Kingsway Bouquet
10. Sweet Twenty-Three
Pushing way beyond genre interests and truly exploring the possibilities within her own and others’ talents, Abdi looks ahead to a soon-to-be-revealed PRS-funded collaboration between her The Hallé Orchestra and Youth Choir and Low Four Studio in addition to her busy releasing and performing period.
For pre-orders and upcoming announcements on live dates and special album launch events, listeners are urged to connect with Ellen Beth Abdi online at:
https://www.facebook.com/EllenBethAbdi
https://www.instagram.com/ellenbethabdi
https://x.com/ellenbethabdi
https://www.tiktok.com/@ellenbethabdi
