Cycles, the latest LP from northern Florida’s The Ellameno Beat, is a viiibe. This low-key collection of mostly lovers rock songs released this past summer intriguingly blends blissful, dreamy  feels with an understated darker element, evoking an ambience of what I’d imagine an opium den to have.

The Ellameno Beat consists of creative leader, Reggie Froom, joined by two longtime friends, Walker Brantingham and James Rosenblit, all of whom have surfed and played music together for years.  While Brantingham and Rosenblit contributed to this album in a “much more significant way” than on previous works, Froom navigates the ship, handling the majority of the instrumentation and songwriting from his home studio in Jacksonville. 

As an independent artist working out of his home studio, Froom has the luxury and freedom of taking his time to perfect his music, but this can also be a curse in a way.  “I think the biggest challenge in the home studio journey has been me figuring out how to get out of my own way and commit to things. With all the tools and capability at my fingertips, it can be extremely hard to decide when something is finished, and let it go. Sending the Cycles mixes off to mastering was a huge moment for me.”

This conundrum could also have something to do with why it’s been eight years since The Ellameno Beat released their last LP, Surface. While Froom and company have always made music with a solid roots foundation, Cycles finds them veering from a modern sound to something distinctly  more retro. This shift stems from Froom and his buds’ immersion in the music of Bunny Wailer, Sugar Minott, Flabba Holt, Robbie Shakespeare, Style Scott, Carlton Barrett, and Lee Scratch Perry. “Over the years post Surface, I’ve become even more connected to, and fallen further in love with reggae music, and music in general. I’ve spent countless hours obsessing over all kinds of records and done so much exploring. I’ve become fascinated with the way things happened, and ultimately sounded and felt in the pre-digital era.”

Beyond the influence of these crucial Jamaican musicians, Cycles was also shaped by the inner growth that Froom has experienced over the years. “As I’ve chased these things I’ve grown to be so passionate about, I also feel like I’ve gotten to know myself a lot better. I’ve found comfort and balance in the present moment. I’ve learned to feel safe in modes of transparency and vulnerability. I feel like I’ve learned to relax tensions in my body and soul I previously held while working through my processes. My musical output is absolutely shaped and broadcasted from this new place I feel I am existing in.”

The evolution of Froom’s headspace has also subtly impacted his vocals on this latest album. While the essence of his voice remains consistent from previous music, his delivery on Cycles often feels more intimate and tender.  “As time has passed, I’ve been obsessed with finding places to relax tension in my system while performing. My current sound vocally is the result of this. I feel like when I was younger, I used to push a lot more to get a sound I was still searching for.  I feel like nowadays  I’ve found what I’ve been searching for. I feel so true in my vocal space. I’m not modeling my voice at all. Just tuning into and expressing myself as much as possible.”

.The album opens with the subdued, “Stepped On,” with  Froom crooning “I do believe we could be wonderful” over a melody driven by a re-amped emulation of a Minimoog. The timbre produced from this technique feels a bit eerie and otherworldly, like something you’d hear in the soundtrack of an old science fiction film as intrepid explorers are about to uncover a mysterious being.

From its first notes, the next track, “Could You Be Mine,” transports listeners to a Jamaican dancefloor in a former era. The arrangement is incredibly sparse – it’s mainly a bassline, a drumbeat and piano – plus, for what essentially serves as the bridge, a trombone doctored up with some reverb and eq. (Froom told me that he learned to play trombone just for this section.)  This simplistic song nevertheless feels so wonderful and right. 

The airy arrangement is not unique to “Could You Be Mine” but a common thread for most of the songs on Cycles. About this, Froom said, “ I think the sparsity of instrumentation is the result of me being more selective and intentional with my process. Focusing on making songs sound and feel a way that are human and playable. I really love letting instruments have their space and breathing room in my current phase. I feel like maybe there’s more opportunity to connect with the music in this form.”

This approach also allows Froom’s vocals to be more pronounced despite his relaxed delivery.  Also worth noting, the vocals in many of the songs have a touch of modulation or echo, which helps to give the music an old-time feel. According to Froom, a combination of mic selection & technique as well as using an emulation of an old school spring reverb helped to create this effect. “The intention tonally was to end up with something dark sounding, as opposed to bright and present,” he revealed. 

While the majority of this album has a retro lovers rock/roots feel, two tracks, “Talkin’” and “Pull Yourself Together,” break from the reggae genre for a sound I describe as interstellar loungey funk.  Shades of Khrangbuin come to mind. I mentioned this to Froom and he responded, “ I love that feeling you described… loungey. There are a lot of albums I grew up being inspired by that made me feel like I was at some swanky space party. I think I was just after those feelings when producing those songs.”

He also said that he loves Khruangbin and added,  “Funny…the guitar sound and setup they’re known for is very much similar to the rig I’ve always played since before I was aware of them. Fender Strat into Fender amp and spring tank engaged! I’ve always loved riffing in that sonic place.”

Even though “Talkin’” and “Pull Yourself Together” are a stylistic departure from the rest of the songs, they still maintain the overall cohesiveness of Cycles. About preserving that consonance,  Froom commented, “It honestly felt very natural. The rhythmic backbone of the vibe of those tunes fits nicely alongside the other reggae feels. But also, big credit to Jonathan Berlin for mastering the album so nicely. He put a nice bow on the whole LP and his touch added to the cohesiveness to everything for sure.”

“Talkin’” is the only track that uses a synth bass, and Froom said it “felt appropriate for the feeling of that tune.” He also uses shadow guitar to create percussive sounds that not only provide texture, but also tie it to the reggae songs on the album. 

As a whole, the keyboards really shape this album, and The Ellameno Beat implement quite a variety of different tones. For example, “Talkin’” alone contains three distinct keyboard sounds.  Froom told me he “used a bunch of stuff” on the album. “Some of it is midi-controlled virtual instruments that have been re-amped through various analog gear, while other sounds are real instruments through mics,” he said. “I found an old Steinway Model D in an old church here in Jacksonville and bought it for an amazing deal and brought it into my studio. That thing drove a bunch of the vibe of the album.”

While, for the most part, the guitar takes a backseat to keyboards on Cycles, in “Flood Gates,” it shines brightly. This track, more than any other, more closely resembles the sound of The Ellameno Beat’s previous LP. As it turns out, “Flood Gates” is one of the oldest songs on the record, originally having been recorded   ten years ago. “In 2015 we actually completed a full version of the song that was never released,” Froom explained. “It always was a favorite of ours, but the recording just felt too demo-like. It never felt like it was the version meant to come out. But the concepts were always there. As I’ve since dialed my recording space in to capture live multi-track performances in a quality fashion, we decided to record a new version from scratch, and capture the feeling we’ve crafted after all those years of playing it the way we did out on the road. The recording and mixing sessions took place in the early months of 2025.”

One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Into the Dark,” which plays like vintage roots reggae. Its meandering Hammond organ tones and lyrics about stepping on forward into the night with the knowledge that the “next morning light” will bring comfort evoke Culture and other golden era vocal trios. Its infectious and uplifting melody along with Froom’s scat-like vocals chanting “Step, step, step, steppy, steppy, step,” also bring to mind Marcia Griffiths’ classic, “Steppin’ out of Babylon.”

“I love those references!” Froom responded when I mentioned these impressions to him. “I was going through a Burning Spear phase when I made that song. I remember really trying to nail the Horsemouth feel when recording the drum part…but on top of that, this one was, again, me really trying to tune into myself and my own sound. The lyrics in this song were actually a freestyle toast over the instrumental. So stoked I caught it. The final vocal in the album is the actual first take I did, top to bottom. I think that really contributed to the uniqueness and relatability to that one.”

The album closes with the calm and collected, “Cool Off,” a response to the divisiveness in our society. For this tune, Rosenblit contributed to the lyrics, and he and Froom caution people to be more mindful, to use discretion. While the messaging is ultimately positive, their frustration comes through: 

Just cool off your head

Before you say something that

You’re gonna regret

Said, what your doing isn’t right

You’re always trying to start a fight

Be quiet you mother@#$%

Don’t be mad

Be happy instead

Now, don’t be rude

Just cool off your head

In closing, for those that would like to see The Ellameno Beat play these songs and others in a live setting, the band will be performing on December 6th at The VooSwar in Atlantic Beach, headlining their  “Reggae Night” event that they’ve been crafting for a couple years now. For that event and other future performances, the band has  brought on two percussionists to “bring the vibe and feel of the album onto the stage.” Like the perfectionist bandleader he is, Froom “went into debt” to acquire a Nord Stage 4 so they “could get the keyboard sounds right” when touring. “So far, it’s proven to be worth it,” Froom gushed. “Stage 4 is a beast!”