Dove Ellis
Blizzard
Release Date: Dec 5, 2025
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Black Butter/AMF Records
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Album Review: Blizzard by Dove Ellis
Fantastic, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 5
A debut album full of beautifully crafted songs, delivered with the confidence and verve of a veteran It’s rare these days for an artist to arrive, seemingly fully-formed, with no advance hype. At the risk of sounding like an old man shouting at a cloud, it’s all algorithms, Tik Toks and content engagement these days before even thinking about something as old-fashioned as an album. Which makes Blizzard, the debut album from 22-year-old Dove Ellis, such a refreshing change.
Based on rating 8/10
A visit to Ellis' charming and scrappily assembled Bandcamp page takes you to uniquely collaged CD mixtapes of folky demos, many shorter than a minute, but a profundity emanates from beneath the fuzz. His Instagram contains very little besides tour dates - some are solo headline shows, others are support slots for skyrocketing names like Geese. On YouTube, there's a half-hour performance with a live band at Brixton's Windmill, the home of the plethora of innovative British guitar bands, with numerous comments saying "big things are coming for him." Otherwise, there's virtually nothing revealing online about this hard-working one-man troubadour.
Opinion: Fantastic
December has become a springboard for the kind of music that feels too intimate and poetic to announce itself loudly. Cameron Winter proved it last year with 'Heavy Metal', a late arrival that defined the year's emotional core. Dove Ellis now follows in that same unassuming tradition: 'Blizzard' emerges without fanfare but a whisper in the final stretch of 2025 as a chamber-pop-folk marvel, landing like an unexpected miracle.
Opinion: Excellent
Across this debut album Dove Ellis comes across as an artist still shaping his identity, but with a staunch view of which rules he wants to ignore. He pulls from post-punk tension, the meandering drift of ambient, and pop's directness, but instead of smoothing these elements into something tidy, across 'Blizzard' he lets them sit slightly at odds. What loosely ties the album together is his tremor-edged quivering croon, often serving as an instrument in and of itself.
'Blizzard'
is available now