There’s a specific kind of comedian-musician who uses humor as a Trojan horse – someone whose songs are funny enough to make you laugh and then, before you realize it, have said something that actually lands. Tim Ellis is that guy. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter-comedian released “Spring Forward” back in March as the opening track of “Remember Spring?”, the fourth and final EP in his “Songs of the Seasons” project. It’s a years-long series that has run through summer, autumn, and winter, and this one closes the loop.
“Spring Forward” picks its subject carefully: that strange, slightly disorienting window when the clocks change but the weather hasn’t caught up yet. The world tells you it’s spring, your body clock disagrees, and the whole thing sits somewhere between relief and exhaustion. Ellis finds the feeling without overselling it, which is the hard part. The production keeps things light but not shallow, leaving room for the melody to do its work. Lead guitar from Phil of St. Divine adds a collaborative, lived-in quality to the track that makes it feel less like a solo project and more like a band catching something in the moment.
Ellis has a bio that reads like a highlight reel of New York creative hustle – Law & Order credits, Andy Kaufman Award appearances, a stint in a marshmallow factory – and “Spring Forward” is very much the work of someone who’s been around long enough to know how to shape an idea without overcomplicating it. “Remember Spring?” wraps up a project that apparently took years and multiple seasons to complete. Getting to the end of something like that is its own kind of accomplishment, and this track earns its spot as the opening statement.
