Robert Ellis Takes A Soothing Minimalist Approach To “Close Your Eyes”

[Cover photo credit to Erica Silverman]

Texas-based singer/songwriter Robert Ellis has released new single “Close Your Eyes” off his forthcoming album Yesterday’s News (out May 19th, 2023 through his label Niles City Records). Initially written as a lullaby for his son, the song’s accompanying video is taken from Ellis’ family life.

He shares:

I wrote this one as a lullaby for my youngest kiddo. There’s this little window after you lay them down in the crib, you sit outside the door and wait, listen. Then inevitably you go back in and soothe. One night when Domino was a baby, I was on the fourth or fifth round of this, and I just started humming a tune. I can remember the night vividly, though it was not unlike so many others. Music and film allow you to sort of freeze a beautiful moment, document it, and mark it. If you aren’t careful they have a tendency of slipping away.

Ellis also announced today a new batch of select European tour dates this Fall, which includes multiple stops in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Coming off his rowdy 2019 album Texas Piano Man, Ellis is changing course and “embracing a raw minimalist approach that prizes patience and restraint above all else” for Yesterday’s News. Recorded live to tape in just two days, the album is “not quite Folk and not quite Jazz”, but contains “meditations on growth and maturity, hope and regret, desire and contentment.”