ASBO Meets: Ella Tobin

Ella Tobin is the new mellifluous voice coming out of South East London. A Reserved and quiet character who lets it all out in her music. Only 23 years old, the songstress has recently released her 4-track debut EP ‘Favourite Place to Hide’ as well as hosting her debut headline show at the Camden Chapel. While her voice has only become accessible to those on streaming sites recently, Ella’s story starts years before ‘The Ghost’ (The first single release from her recent ep) landed on Spotify.

Ella has an interesting start, an obviously talented musician who grew up playing the violin before progressing onto the guitar and piano. She would sing in school talent shows and choirs but didn’t truly see a space for her voice until she discovered the likes of Eliza Doolittle, Lucy Rose and Lewis Watson. With Ella’s first single release coming at 22, It was 7 years prior as a 15-year-old that Ella began singing in stations across London. A busking competition titled Gigs was held by the London mayoral office at the time and would see Ella travelling around the capital performing covers in busy stations. A task that not only helped build confidence but aided with learning how to read people as Ella would stand there looking for that one person who was hooked. After her recent headline show, I asked Ella how it compared to her days of busking and was shocked to hear that the headline show with a crowd of faces that Ella knew seemed to be the most nerve-racking.

“I’ve been writing songs for a long time but they’ve always existed in my head”, last year Ella decided that her messy notes app and brain full of lyrics and songs were ready to be shared with the world. The release was the first of many things, with Ellas’ latest EP being the first time she had worked with a producer, an experience that saw her perception of her music change as “this new world had been created for the songs”. Aria Wood was the producer she connected with via Instagram and ultimately worked alongside on every track of her debut EP, songs Ella had stockpiled for so long were given a new life as Aria created a new space for them to exist.

“I just want to try and be really honest in my songs”, and ‘Favourite Place to Hide’ is exactly that. A project that feels like an explosion of emotions and feelings. Only 4 tracks long the project gives those who have the pleasure to press play a small insight into the beautiful creations of Ella and a glimpse into what the talented songstress is capable of. There was a fear that Ella had before releasing her project and she told me how most of the songs are really old as she just sat with them. The project is just an opener for Ella who has so much music set aside that another project in 2024 is extremely likely.

Ella’s words when I asked how she would like her music to be received and the messages she would like to portray were quite straightforward. ”Music to make others feel less alone and show there are others feeling the same way”. ‘Favourite Place to Hide’ may be the only 4 tracks available on streaming sites from Ella but the topics of angst, sadness and love are only a tiny fraction of what she has showcased on the EP.

With her career having been recently kicked into gear. Ella was reserved with her plans and seemed scared to look into the future “5 year plans scare me so much, thinking of the future, but theyre good arent they’. Performing was top of the list for Ella who now has her own songs and listeners to showcase her music to, she spoke of dreams to tour whether that be solo or a support act “Playing live is one of the things I love most about this”. With Ella Tobin the artist seeming to have sprouted into full bloom in the last years she didn’t seem to have massive dreams of performing at the 02 with the idea of it not seeming to be very appealing to her, her one goal was clear “I would love to do this full time, to make a full-time living from music would be the dream”, financial freedom gained from your passion sounded like a good target to set.