What’s The Ellis Court?

Everyone says you need an official bio if you want to start a band, so here it is:

The Ellis Court is a new indie music project launched by singer-songwriter Tim Halloran after moving from Seattle to Berlin, Germany. Inspired by the teeming creative energy of his new home town, he vowed to rescue his slumbering musicianship from too many years of “back-burner” status and went on a songwriting bender, penning a batch of 15 new songs in as many weeks. Then he joined up with Berlin indie pop producer Lukas Kurz and a network of local indie musicians to record a handful of those tracks for the What More EP released in Spring 2024.

The four songs on What More are a vivid soundtrack for some of life’s most emotional turning points, wrought from a mixture of hook-laden melodies, wry but deeply introspective lyrics, and Halloran’s often fragile, keening vocals. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Elliott Smith, Skylar Grey, Billie Eilish, and The Shins, the music of The Ellis Court will likely find a home with fans of inventive alt pop auteurs like Mitski, Bon Iver, Japanese Breakfast, Beirut, and Perfume Genius.

Halloran’s list of musical priors dates back to the 1990s as a member of San Francisco pop-punk trio Girl X! and then later as the founding force behind Brooklyn-born indie pop outfit Spink. That band’s one and only record garnered high praise among the era’s burgeoning queer zine scene, being described variously as “an EP of pop gems—tiny masterpieces,” “pretty freaking cool,” and “possibly the best queer pop release of 2000.”

The group’s cover of “New Partner” by Will Oldham was featured in the climactic final kiss scene of the indie film Dean Quixote, joining a soundtrack of 1990s alt-rock all-stars like Guided by Voices, Olivia Tremor Control, and Bettie Serveert. But despite some early career momentum, it was only about a year before Spink would disband and politely fade away.

Today, that latent sonic energy is reincarnated into a new music project: The Ellis Court. Named after the West L.A. bungalow apartment where he first started recording songs with a garage-sale banjo and a 4-track cassette machine, Halloran’s latest venture marks a long overdue public return to musical collaboration and creative output. With a new sound conjured directly from Berlin’s fertile indie music scene, The Ellis Court’s debut recording offers up a raw, fresh perspective on age-old emotions while breathing renewed life into an abiding musical soul.