Gregg McKella is a Brighton based multi instrumentalist originally from Aylesbury, active since the early 1980s. He began with The Presence, sharing stages with Marillion and Ozric Tentacles, before moving to London in 1987 and forming Image Wot Image with Jeanette Murphy. He later founded Paradise 9, releasing several albums including Science Fiction Reality on Flicknife Records. Gregg formed Dreamfield with Poppy Gonzalez, earning notable radio airplay, and has collaborated widely across psychedelic, space rock and ambient scenes, performing internationally and working with numerous influential musicians and collectives.
“Songs from the Underground” marks a quietly powerful arrival for Gregg McKella as a solo artist, released on 5th December, 2025, and drawing together decades of songwriting, lived experience, and sonic exploration into a cohesive debut. Written during his London busking years in the 1990s, the album carries the imprint of city life in all its contrasts, capturing fleeting encounters, inner reflections, and the shifting emotional landscapes of urban existence. There is a tangible sense of time embedded in these songs, not as nostalgia, but as reflection shaped by distance and maturity.
Musically, the album moves fluidly between folk-rooted storytelling and more exploratory terrain, blending earthy acoustic foundations with psychedelic blues, neo-folk textures, and subtle ambient touches. McKella’s self-described “space-folk” aesthetic feels apt, as traditional songcraft is gently expanded through atmosphere, tone, and unexpected instrumental colour. His vocals are unvarnished and sincere, carrying a weathered warmth that deepens the emotional resonance of the lyrics. Guitars, glissando guitar, clarinet, and synths are used expressively rather than ornamentally, always in service of mood and narrative.
Songs from the Underground Album Track List:
All Said and Done:
“All Said and Done” opens “Songs from the Underground” with a quiet, introspective weight, immediately drawing listeners into Gregg McKella’s reflective world. Anchored by intimate, fingerpicked acoustic guitar, the track foregrounds McKella’s weathered, confessional vocals, establishing a tone of honesty and emotional vulnerability from the outset. The arrangement is deliberately restrained, allowing natural phrasing and subtle melodic nuances to resonate, while gentle synth pads and mellotron textures gradually emerge, adding depth without overwhelming the core intimacy. Rhythmically unhurried and harmonically grounded in folk traditions, the song’s gentle chord movements and ambient shading mirror its lyrical exploration of regret, accountability, and personal reflection. The production emphasizes space and breath, using reverb and sustain to create a reflective haze that blurs temporal boundaries. As the album’s opener, “All Said and Done” sets the emotional and aesthetic tone for McKella’s “space-folk” language, seamlessly blending acoustic immediacy with immersive atmospheric textures.
Gone So Silent:
“Gone So Silent” stands as one of the most emotionally resonant moments on “Songs from the Underground”, deepening the album’s reflective atmosphere through its quiet examination of absence and fractured communication. Built around warm, intimate acoustic guitar work, the track unfolds with a restrained rhythmic pulse that gently guides the song forward without disrupting its fragile emotional balance. Subtle bass movement and lightly brushed percussion add weight and continuity, reinforcing the song’s sense of lingering momentum. McKella’s vocal delivery is measured and aching, stretching across phrases with deliberate restraint that mirrors the emotional distance explored in the lyrics. Ambient synth textures drift in softly, while delicate electric guitar lines emerge at pivotal moments, adding colour without overpowering the core arrangement. Harmonically, the interplay between major and minor tonalities sustains a constant tension, echoing unresolved longing. As the choruses expand through widened stereo space, the production enhances the song’s quiet power, allowing emotional release to surface within its silence.
New Horizons:
“New Horizons” emerges as the most expansive and immersive piece on “Songs from the Underground”, allowing Gregg McKella’s musical ideas the space to unfold with patience and intent. Opening with grounded acoustic strumming and quietly reflective vocals, the track establishes an intimate foundation before gradually widening its scope. As the song progresses, layers of synth drones, mellotron pads, and interwoven guitar lines are introduced with careful restraint, transforming the arrangement into a broad, panoramic soundscape. The steady tempo and repeated chorus lend the song a mantra-like quality, reinforcing its lyrical focus on escape, renewal, and the pull of forward motion. Rather than rushing toward resolution, the composition relies on subtle evolution, using melodic repetition and ambient depth to suggest both physical and emotional distance travelled. Psychedelic guitar accents and sustained harmonic layers add a cinematic sweep, positioning the track as the album’s emotional and sonic centrepiece.
Face in the Crowd:
“Face in the Crowd” distils Gregg McKella’s busking era observations into a quietly compelling portrait of urban anonymity and shared human experience on “Songs from the Underground”. Driven by a steady mid tempo groove, the track is anchored by acoustic rhythm guitar and gentle, unforced percussion that mirror the constant flow of city movement. Layered vocal harmonies soften the arrangement, adding warmth and a sense of connection beneath the surface of transience. McKella’s melodic phrasing unfolds in a conversational manner, reinforcing his role as an empathetic observer rather than a dramatist. As the song develops, richer harmonic shifts and subtle string like textures deepen the emotional palette, creating contrast between verse and chorus without breaking the track’s reflective mood. Carefully applied spatial reverb and balanced instrumentation give the song an open yet inward looking atmosphere, encapsulating the album’s central theme of individual stories quietly unfolding within the crowd.
The production by Martin Litmus is central to the album’s immersive quality. His multi-instrumental work on bass, keyboards, synths, mellotron, guitars, and percussion creates a richly layered yet restrained soundscape that allows the songs to breathe. Guest contributions from Nick Pynn and Eugene McClouskey on violins, Jeanette Murphy on backing vocals, and Paradise 9’s Tyrone Thomas on lead and slide guitars further enhance the album’s depth and textural warmth.
Songs from the Underground Is A Richly Textured And Emotionally Resonant Debut That Captures Urban Life, Personal Reflection, And Expansive Sonic Exploration, Establishing Gregg McKella’s Unique ‘Space-folk’ Identity
Ultimately, “Songs from the Underground” is a deeply human and rewarding listen, favouring flow, atmosphere, and emotional continuity over immediacy. It stands as a thoughtful artistic statement shaped by time, place, and persistence, offering warmth, melancholy, and quiet hope in equal measure.
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