Music / new releases
New release: Elder Island’s third album marks ‘a new era’
From a cursory glance electronic music appears to be having a moment in Bristol.
But, Elder Island say, the city has always been a haven for forward-looking dance music; discovering dynamic dubstep, techno and house nights was what shaped the fledgling band’s sound more than a decade ago.
And with their splicing of live instrumentation with synth and programmed beats, they’re putting themselves at the forefront of a scene that favours innovation of the form without compromising on groove, mood or danceability.
The trio’s latest album leans into the playful, the positive and the upbeat. Hello Baby Okay is the slice of soulful leftfield sunshine-pop the world needs right now. “We want the joy to shine through,” they say.
The trio went back to their roots for this new album, letting the songs emerge through free-flowing jams and rediscovering a sense of spontaneity and playfulness
“Our motto for the album was just ‘keep it simple, stupid,’” laughs guitar and synth player Dave Havard. “That was our running theme throughout.”
The approach was the result of a desire to move away from the detail-driven production of the last record that the band “agonised over” but that ultimately made it difficult to recreate live, perhaps a symptom of a band in lockdown mode.
There’s also now a sense of being more comfortable with each other and with themselves, “feeling more free,” says vocalist and cellist Katy Sargent.
“The last album we honed our producing skills during recording. We really went to town and spent a lot of time on it. With this one we wanted it to feel lighter, to have more fun with it, be less clingy with the details,” she expands.
“I’ve allowed myself to be more playful with the lyrics. It’s more dancey, makes you want to move your body more. And we’ve got a few silly sounds in there.”
“We wanted to simplify and make these songs much more manageable and enjoyable to play live,” chips in Dave. “The second album was very synth heavy, modular synths and crazy old synths galore. It was just synth synth synth…
“For this one, we wanted to get the guitar back in. People respond well to it in a live context and my style is funky-disco so it brings that upbeat, chirpy feel to it. We’re leaning into those instruments that bring the happier sound.”
Meeting at UWE Bristol around 2013, the pair and third member Luke Thornton balanced mutual loves for clubbing and live jams, regularly going out dancing to places like Motion, Clockwork and Timbuktu and getting into DJing on the side while also spending hours in the house together jamming with guitars and Katy on cello, inspired by artists like Joanna Newsom, Kokorosie and the Books.
“The two separate sides started bleeding into each other,” says Dave.
From there the band experimented, developing their sound and finding a natural home in Bristol where they appreciated the unconventional nature of the city’s cultural offer.
“Bristol’s always been good at putting on between-the-lines events and musical performances,” says Katy. Dave agrees: “People make the effort to go to the more niche, alternative things, different parties, arts events. It’s a productive city for that.
He recognises that independent spirit shining through in the current scene: “It’s growing in a nice way again. There’s interesting things going on all the time. The community growing around Strange Brew and the arts scene that’s developed is really strong.
“When the Underground turned up that was really fun – it felt different, big, exciting. Bristol’s having a little peak, a buzz at the moment.”
View this post on Instagram
Strange Brew, the city centre venue that was set up by a group of electronic music-loving friends and still specialises in the weirder side of the genre as well as diversifying into live music of all descriptions, has a special place in the group’s hearts.
The band’s headline show there in March sold out in less than two hours. “I was elated,” says Katy. “It felt really good to play there as we go there so much. It was special being on the other side of the stage.”
But those excitable Bristol fans will have a while to wait for the next hometown show. Elder Island will be touring the album in America and Canada first before they head back to play UK and European dates in the autumn.
The band can’t wait to get out there and on the road again. “It’s got to the point where we’ve made all the mistakes, we’ve had all the things go wrong, we kind of know how this works,” says Dave. “So now it’s just the fun part of performing and playing.”
View this post on Instagram
Hello Baby OK is released on May 8. Listen at elderisland.bandcamp.com/album/hello-baby-okay
Elder Island play the Prospect Building on November 6: theprospectbuilding.com/events/elderisland
All images: Nic Kane
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
