The Earth & All Within is the debut solo album from the Philadelphia guitarist and songwriter Jim Ellis who has spent the last decade recording and touring in such acts as the female fronted hard rock band Palaceburn and progressive rock/metal inspired In The Presence of Wolves.
After the pandemic forced ITPOW to disband, Jim decided to refocus his energy on his career outside of music while writing songs for himself. In late 2021, Jim entered into a relationship that would ultimately break him down to his core; forcing him to reevaluate who he was, what was truly important in life, and who he wanted to be.
What he found felt like a call from the Universe itself. Laying in bed one night he manifested out loud, "I'm going to write an album this year."
"It was such a novel idea,
a rock band with a string section."
In his heart, Jim’s music taste belongs in 2004. He was inspired to pick up the guitar after seeing Green Day’s American Idiot music video one morning before school and that entire wave of pop punk and emo would become his go to.
His appreciation of music would grow over the years as he began to explore more genres. In high school he delved into classic metal, as most guitarists do, college would introduce him to alternative and indie rock, and his bandmates in ITPOW would show him everything from Prince to jazz and Broadway musicals. As Duke Ellington said, “there are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind.”
It wasn’t until he began exploring film scores from John Williams and Howard Shore that would lead him to classical music. Here was a genre brand new to him with centuries of material to dig through. Witnessing the Philadelphia Orchestra perform pieces from Rachmaninoff and Holst made him realize this was as epic to him and Angus Young and Jimmy Page.
That’s when it clicked. The common thread that would tie together his songs that had no business being on the same record as each other.
It was such a novel idea. A rock band, with a string section.
Jim would spend the better part of 2023 writing and demoing the 10 songs that would make up the album, along with trying to figure out how to compose music for violin, viola, and cello. Once everything was in place, he was able to recruit Mason Ingling from In the Presence of Wolves on drums, the Philadelphia String Quartet to cover the strings, and booked recording time at Milkboy the Studio to bring this vision to life.
While the future of this project is uncertain, Jim believes there’s room in the industry for music like this. The album feels nostalgic yet fresh, simple yet progressive, and features heartfelt lyrics that tell an underdog story to remind us that even though we fall down, even though everything seems awful anymore, we have to get back up and try to make something fucking epic.
