Megan Ellsworth's vocals invite listeners to sway like prairie grass in the breeze. Her indie-folk songs call to mind sunlight on the face, birds chirping in the distance and worries fading away. But a sadness lurks beneath the pleasant sounds.
Ellsworth, who performs under the name ELLSWORTH and just dropped her self-titled debut, has plenty to be sad about. After all, she’s a member of the generation that grew up after the 9/11 attacks, in a country with two perpetual wars, weekly school shootings, crippling student-loan debt, a planet poised to expel us and now a lethal pandemic. Who wouldn't be bummed out after all this?