INTERVIEW: Elder Island
Elder Island
The Photo Ladies Interview - by Emily May
Electronic-pop trio Elder Island traverses the sounds of many genres. Based in Bristol, they blend electronica, indie, pop, and neo-soul to weave together a sound that threads together poetic lyrics, unique instrumentation, and synth-heavy dance beats. The trio met six years ago in Bristol while attending university to study fine arts, photography, and graphic design, with the city's diverse music scene providing the inspiration and opportunity to play music together. Although the trio started out doing casual jam sessions at home, things took off for them when their 2014 self-titled debut EP gathered steam amongst the public, allowing the band to focus more seriously on their musical endeavor. Their follow up EP, Seeds In Sand, saw the band finding and becoming more comfortable in their sound. Where their debut EP had been an ambient soundscape of field recordings, loops, and percussive elements, the follow-up was a more cohesive collection of five dance-influenced tracks. Their songwriting process adds to the magic of their sound, with each song starting out as a jam session in which various ideas and instrumentation are mixed together to create a song. 2019 saw the release of their album The Omnitone Collection, described as ten tracks that are rich tapestries of tiny moments in time, but also sweeping soundtracks weaved with ambition. The band created bespoke artwork to accompany the album, describing The Omnitone Collection as an “integrated concept”. This form of commitment is evidence of the hands-on, DIY approach the band undertakes in many aspects of their music. 2019 saw Elder Island take The Omnitone Tour to Europe and North America twice, with over 60 dates. This included sold-out shows in New York’s Bowery Ballroom, El Rey Theatre in LA, and an electric, sold-out performance at London Roundhouse. Capturing their dates on their Omnitone Tour, the band released a short documentary last year that not only documented the unique, immersive quality of the band’s live performances – which have inspired sell-out shows at iconic venues around the globe – but it also heralded a raft of new tour dates for 2021. A remix of the album was released last Spring, featuring remixes by fellow musicians and admired artists such as Shigeto, Matthew Dear, and Dirty Nice. The band recently released their latest single and accompanying video for "Feral". A dramatic track, it builds towards a crescendo with inexorable, synth-lead force. “It's got a driving aggressive sound that's quite dark, and then this light bossa nova beat that goes along with it,” explains bassist Luke Thornton. “The song is inspired by childhood memories of fear, so the track has become a juxtaposition between darkness and light.” In a nod to the classic double-sided cassette and vinyl singles, Elder Island also release B-side “Absolute.” Juxtaposing the intensity of the A-side, “Absolute” is the antidote to “Feral,” a drifting synth-led track floating melodically through soft, choral vocals, which nevertheless maintains an unrelenting 4/4 beat. Reminiscent of a short film, the music video for "Feral" embraces the paranormal and the sinister discomfort of vast, desolate landscapes. Directed by Jordan Martin who has worked with the likes of Fontaines DC, IDLES, Heavy Lungs, Two Door Cinema Club, and Bastille, the video centers around a flickering fireside and the band as cult-esque figures, barefoot and shrouded in the dark. Filmed on the outskirts of Bristol, it moves between haunted outhouses, vacant grounds, and Hitchcock-styled chiaroscuro driving scenes with a permeating sense of dread, visually exploring the burden of childhood nightmares. With a new album in the works, Elder Island is definitely a band to follow into the new year! Elder Island is vocalist and cellist Katy Sargent, bassist and beat maestro Luke Thornton, and guitarist and synth master David Havard. You can connect with Elder Island via the following links.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | SoundCloud | iTunes/Apple Music | YouTube | Bandcamp
Luke and David- You knew each other growing up and met Katy while attending university, recruiting her to play with you when you heard her playing the cello. Early on you preferred folk tunes over the synth sounds you now play. What can you tell me about those early days of playing together and the evolution of your sound?
David - When we started playing together, we only had a few instruments at hand. It started with an acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, a cello, and a very basic drum kit. We had a 2-channel interface, one microphone, garage band and would experiment, teaching ourselves how to record, trying different things out. It wasn’t long before we got a copy of Ableton which really helped open things up. We were still mainly using acoustic instruments but were learning to manipulate them and loop in time together to start creating beats. In the years leading up to us making our S/T Ep we had managed to accumulate quite a few more instruments and effects from bargain eBay purchases and making DIY equipment. We would play together when we found the time in between work and it was these early sessions that would be the foundation for that EP. When we made that record, we intentionally played everything, recording directly into the arrangement. We didn’t want to use Ableton for the instruments, just to record and produce the record. I picked up a Pianet T, which was quite a crucial instrument for me as it’s when we started to use keys, not just stringed instruments. I found an old Yamaha PSR-21 keyboard, which was hidden in a cupboard at home, which was the only synth on the record, as it was all we had, but ultimately added to the lo-fi nature of the recordings. After putting that record out and seeing its response, we started to take things a little more seriously. We had a lot to learn, trying to translate that record into something that worked in a live environment. I think every show we performed for a couple of years had a technical issue of some kind, but it’s where we refined our instrument choices and found the basis for how we perform today.
Your process for writing music tends to involve marathon jam sessions. What do you find inspiring about these sessions? Are all of your songs a result of these sessions or do you ever find yourself with specific song ideas going into them?
Luke - I believe the inspiring aspect is getting lost in the moment. Most of the time when this happens, something unique ends up being created. There is nothing more special than that.
You started out writing, recording, and producing on your own in your basement studio in Bristol, but with your first LP, The Omnitone Collection, you worked with Ali Chant at his studio, Play Pen. What can you tell me about the process of doing everything yourself vs working with another producer and what led you to reach out to him? You have said that the album had more of a songwriting focus and that working with Ali led the songs to be more sculpted. What can you tell me about the process of making that album?
Katy - Producing at home is a double-edged sword. You have all the time you need to realize tracks and get them right but there is a tendency to agonize over decisions and things can take a lot longer. It's always hard to know when to stop. When working in a studio you have to be more prepared and because ‘time is money’ you have to make quicker decisions. There is also someone present who can guide and offer a second opinion. Alternatively, these aspects can cause you to rush and the additional person sometimes means another link in the chain of production, having to explain your vision before you can enact it. I think with the Omnitone album we had got the tracks to a good point in our own studio but were struggling to finalize/ finish them. Ali really gets our long processes but as an external producer has the power to chivvy us along a bit and say is this your final decision? It's what we needed.
What can you tell me about your love of old school equipment vs digital gear and your aim to mirror the level of care that goes into the production of old artifacts in everything you create?
Luke - The biggest pro of doing things digitally is that the process is always faster. It's incredible what can be achieved now with digital equipment and the development is never slowing down. The good thing about old school equipment is that it was built to last and if treated with care can last forever. Our goal is to use whatever gear old or new as tools, then see if it inspires us to create something with it. So far it has yet to fail us.
You recently released your new single "Feral" and the accompanying music video. What can you tell me about the inspiration behind the song and the idea behind the video, which brings to life the uncomfortable dread of childhood nightmares and the anxiety and fear of what awaits you when you finally fall asleep? Was the song based on real-life experiences?
Katy - Sonically there’s a contrast in the track between the lightness of the Bossanova / mambo beat and the darker ominous driving bass. A sense of foreboding with a naive twist. Lyrically I was exploring a time in my childhood when I was testing the boundaries of what was right and wrong. A fear of things you don't understand but also the exhilaration in this fear. I reference films that I had watched at friends' houses whose parents did a little less censoring than mine. Late Night horror movies, Candyman, and satellite’s delight ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark’ (a North American kids horror television series). Watching these things elicited not only a fear of what I had visually seen but also a deeper feeling that I’d watched something forbidden. These feelings as a child are way more prominent than those of an adult. Everything is interwoven into your imagination and thus your everyday. I didn't sleep much as a child but I certainly didn't sleep much at these horror house sleepovers. I could dedicate some of the sleepless aspects of the video to these long nights awake believing there was something ominous drawing closer.
The video is described as a spooky cinematic seance. What led you to shoot the video like a short film and what was the filming process like?
Katy - The short film probably comes from us trying to squish as much into the video as possible without bursting its seams! We ended up with way more footage than was needed and it was a definite ‘Kill your Darlings’ scrapping certain sections, but the video benefit as a whole from these decisions.
What can you tell me about the different locations in which the video was filmed?
Katy - We filmed in two main locations with a few extras for B-roll. We were looking for classic eerie settings. Dusty cobwebbed barns and creaking outhouses. As per we called in a few favors. One sight was with some incredible friends of ours who live on the outskirts of Bristol. It’s a semi-rural, slightly wild, and sprawling place that I love. The other was near Gloucester where Director Jordan Martin's grandparents live. A fitting location being a place he had spent a lot of his childhood. They were also the owners of the small well that we hung Luke over and the fantastic Saab 900 convertible that I got to drive.
You have said that the video pays homage to the horror films that broke your childhood. What were those films?
Katy - It's a great talking point as everyone has one or two shows they saw as a kid that stayed with them! I think mine was watching MJ’s Thriller Video for the first time and then also watching Candyman way too young. Really shook me up. I also asked Luke and he said Chucky. Dave coincidentally mentioned episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark but then started talking about a scene in a film he had seen with walls closing-in and spiders pouring out. No idea what the film was but it seems to have had a lasting impression.
With an upcoming album in the works, what can you tell me about the process of recording your second LP compared to your first? What can listeners expect sonically? What else can fans look forward to in the coming months?
Luke - It has been a shakeup to how we've written previously. For the first album, we had songs that were created around the same time as “Seeds In Sand” that were being finished and incorporated into the album. With this album, we started from scratch a few days after our London Printworks show. The lockdown happened, so we put our heads down and pretty much spent the entire year making the music and discovering new instruments and equipment. Without giving too much away, expect to hear a sonic landscape filled with the new instrumental discoveries we’ve made. It is an album reflective of the year it was created whilst having an anomalous charm. We’ve had to move live dates on so that our first shows will be the UK and IE tour in May & June. Fingers crossed. We are however hoping to record some live performances to put out in the interim. Looking forward to the challenge of transforming the new tracks into a live show.