BIOGRAPHY: 2014
Ephemerals
Fresh out of London comes one of the hottest soul sensations you’ll hear all year. Meet Ephemerals,
whose debut LP “Nothin Is Easy” will be released via Jalapeno Records on June 23rd.
Fans of the Daptone sound will immediately be drawn to Ephemerals, whose LP is a tastefully
timeless soul record, taking inspirations from music greats such as James Brown, Syl Johnson and OV
Wright and Charles Bradley.
Joined by Franglo-American singer Wolf, originally from New York but who has been living in Paris
since the age of 14, Ephemerals deliver a debut album that is fresh and soulful and will command
some serious attention. Wolf only began singing in public three years ago, but has quickly
established himself as a continental star with his band Marvellous, who supported Hannah Williams
and the Tastemakers on a tour date.
Hillman Mondegreen, writer-producer and founder member for Hannah Williams and The
Tastemakers, was on a quest to find the singer for his next project when their tour passed through
France. Wolfgang Valbrun was singing for the group that was supporting the Tastemakers, and
Hillman felt instantly that the New Yorker was the perfect voice.
Soon afterwards, Hillman made the decision to leave Hannah Williams & the Tastemakers to pursue
a new musical project, and the first person he called up to sing in his new band, Ephemerals, was
Wolf, who he knew was the man for the job.
Wolf learned the songs via grainy acoustic mp3s that Hillman was sending from London, and within a
few months, a six-piece backing band of trusted soul musicians were about to create an album.
Valbrun arrived in Soho the day before recording and the dynamic partnership was realised for the
first time in Hillman’s apartment. In the same way, the musicians who turned up at the studio had
barely even heard their parts or seen them written. Some were meeting each other for the first
time, and the first full band rehearsal was on the first day of the recording.
Hillman taught the band song by song, and within three scorching days — thanks to a broken air
conditioning unit during the July heatwave — the seven-piece had recorded the album live to
analogue tape at The Cowshed in North London, and Wolf was on his way back to France. The strings
and backing vocals were added in Winchester and “Nothin Is Easy” was complete.
A short UK tour ensued in the following weeks and the live Ephemerals band was born from the
same musicians who had recorded that great session. It was as much their personality as their talent
that allowed the band to rehearse and record in such swift fashion.
Members of the band include Damian, who also plays trumpet for Kalakuta Millionaires and is also in
Hillman’s afrobeat supergroup Keke Mokoro; Char, who plays baritone sax for Dakhla, a band with a
unique afrobeat/gypsy styling; James, who plays organ for Hannah Williams, as does Jimi Needles,
who has been Hillman’s drummer of choice since they met at university in 2008. Rob Jones was the
final piece of the puzzle, recommended to Hillman by WahWah45’s boss Dom Servini. He played
every instrument on the epic Gene Dudley Group album and was brought in to play bass with his
trademark tone and casual style.
Also at this session, Hillman gained the backing vocal services of Hannah Curtain (lead singer of
HWTastemakers), whom he had traded the favour in return for him writing a song for her next
album. “Nothin Is Easy” features heavy grooves and slick production, with Wolf’s distinctive howl on
top, emoting as only he can about love, social justice, environmental damage and selfdetermination.
Almost as captivating as how the record was made, is the story of how it caught the attention of the
Jalapeno label. A radical business strategy from Mondegreen Records, whose first solo release back
in 2010 secured the signing of HWT to Record Kicks and then Sony, saw the company taking a freeto-download approach.
“The philosophy was that anyone who saw the video or visits our Facebook/ Bandcamp/
Soundcloud/ Twitter pages should be able to download the full album in three clicks or less,” says
Mondegreen. “Another positive that comes from this method is that there is no worth in
bootlegging the record, so we are denying the revenue that illegal download sites can make from
hosting a copy.
“The idea is that there is little to be made from recorded music anyway, so the attempt is to broaden
the fan base and tour relentlessly, making up for the loss of sales profit with the money gained from
the larger fanbase. After all, you can’t bootleg a live performance. We also approached several vinyl
only labels to release 7”’s and put out two singles with Mocambo in Germany and Colemine in Ohio
USA.”
Mondegreen’s drastic business approach worked, as the online buzz surrounding the band, caught
the attention of Jalapeno Records boss Trevor McNamee, who instantly fell in love with the record
and signed Ephemerals almost immediately. Via Jalapeno Records, the band will be getting the full
release and promotion the record merits, and “Nothin Is Easy” will now be available via all the
appropriate commercial avenues. Such a soulful debut deserves nothing less.
Single “Easy Ain’t Nothin” is out June 16th
The Album “Nothin is Easy” will be released June 23rd on Jalapeno Records
For more information please contact [email protected] or visit - www.jalapenorecords.com