DOROTHY ELLA SINGLE LAUNCH FOR “DO YOU STILL LIE? (PROBABLY)

Words & Photography: Tom Gensler

Dorothy Ella is the reigning Disco Queen of the Nottingham and Derby music scene. Noted forher funky, high energy and sing along songs, with a vibrant and joyful stage presence, she’s madeherself a big name locally. She also hosts an open mic, housed at the beautiful Darley Abbey Wines, where we went to watch her single release party and open mic event, all to celebrate her new single, Do You Still Lie? (Probably).

“The new single is about being free, its a breakup anthem, all about finally being able to be

yourself again” she says enthusiastically on the new release, positioning as another playfully angry anthem of hers. Its been a staple of her live sets for a while now, and so being able to listen to it freely is great, and production-wise its crisp and translates into the studio setting perfectly.

One very notable thing about the new single is its slight departure from Dorothy’s usual, disco-inspired sounds. Its more indie, and this fits the track’s tone and chord structures extremely well, and even though it is different it still has the iconic Dorothy Ella sounds and vibes, meaning it slots into her catalogue extremely well. On the subject of the track’s genre, she says that “Usually, I get described as a disco queen, because I do a lot of funk and disco, whereas this ones got a little bit more grit in it”.

“I’m usually inspired by Remi Wolf and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, a bit of soul so Aritha Franklin, as

well. But this time, I was listening to Sigrid quite a lot, so its a bit more empowerment, a bit of grit behind it.” she says when it comes to her typical influences and the ones that directly influence her new track.

When it comes to the event itself, she begins with a mini, three-song set, kicking the night off with a truly wonderful cover of Thinking of You, made famous by Sister Sledge. Its a fantastic song normally, and you can definitely here how these older soul and funk songs seep their way into Dorothy’s musical landscapes. Her version is extra special, with her vocals effortlessly floating above the timeless guitar riffs, originally laid out by Nile Rodgers.

She finishes the opening set with a rousing rendition of one of her recent singles, released last year, Talk, the first of two times she plays it across the course of the night. Talk is another one of the playfully angry songs that Dorothy performs, with it being about people that just talk and talk for no reason and lie. Its very fitting, considering the new release, but this song and the new single both serve as a testament to Dorothy’s thematic abilities; she can easily link her songs together by tone if not through sound, creative a strong, cohesive effect across all of her work so far.

Between her opening set and her final set, she welcomes other fantastic artists as part of the open mic segment, and she joins some for some fantastic cover versions of hits. For me, the standouts were a thrilling version of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark, alongside the brilliant Carl J North and Scott Greensmith, and then later on, a fun and incredible sounding cover of Love Machine by The Ting Tings, alongside Gareth and the Dirty Martinis.

For her final set, she is accompanied by Kev on lead guitar and the fantastic Ollie Carnell on bass, with Dorothy herself playing guitar. She belts out a varied mix of her originals, such as Talk and 2 Ways, and every song she plays is simply brilliant. When Dorothy performs on her own its incredible in itself, but the added musical backing, despite arguably minimalist, adds so much to the performance and gives every song a special value, an extra quality that does not detract from the songs if they were to be played completely solo, but just adds another intricate and beautiful layer to the mix.

Now, the moment that the night has been leading up to; the performance of Do You Still Lie?

(Probably). Throughout the night, she’s dropped a lot of references to it, specifically based around pre-saving the song, an action that seems to have a real hold on the process of release music, in the modern internet age. The build-up is joyfully intense, skilfully done in order to maximise the songs’ effect. When she plays it, with the instrumental backing, its incredible and hits extremely well.Everyone’s grooving and singing along, creating a truly fantastic atmosphere as the light slowly dies in the venue. The song’s themes and rhythms are expertly expressed live, and Dorothy’s vocals are truly sublime here. Its one incredible song, another one in her vast library of brilliant tunes.

Overall, this was a truly enjoyable evening. Dorothy’s sets are amazing and very well-executed, with her cover of Thinking of You and her originals Talk and Do You Still Lie? (Probably) being the highlights for me. Her live collaborations are fantastic too, a true testament to her musical malleability. Darley Abbey Wines is a brilliant venue too, with a great open mic that’s definitely worth checking out, with alternating hosting slots, distributed between Dorothy and Jemma Johnson, on every Thursday. Do You Still Lie? (Probably) is a brilliant single in itself, out now on all platforms, and I thoroughly enjoyed this celebration of it’s release. You can listen to the new single here.