Posted in Whathaveyou on August 2nd, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Progressive heavy rock forerunners Elder will be back on the road in Europe for Fall 2018, joined by Ancestors for a run through festivals that includes Doom vs. Stoner, Up in Smoke, Desertfest Belgium 2018, Into the Void and Keep it Low. Because, basically, if you’re throwing a heavy fest in 2018, you want Elder to play. The former-trio-now-four-piece affirmed their ascendance last year with Reflections of a Floating World (review here) and have barely come off tour since. To wit, after the stint with Ancestors? They have another European tour. It’s pretty much how it goes with them these days, and right on.
You’ll note they mention an impending announcement about new music. I know what it is and it’s awesome. It’s not public yet, but yeah, there’s something cool happening. Stay tuned.
They posted the following on the social medias:
Elder announce European tour
We’re back on the autobahn and beyond again this fall, sharing the first leg of our tour with the fantastic @ancestors (who have a killer new album out) Let us know below what show you’ll be at!
Also, we’ve got another exciting announcement regarding new music coming in the near future…
29.09. UK – Sheffield, O2 Academy, Doom vs. Stoner Festival* 30.09. UK – Glasgow, The Audio* 01.10. UK – Leeds, TBA* 02.10. UK – Manchester, The Rebellion* 03.10. UK – Coventry, The Phoenix* 04.10. UK – Bristol, The Fleece* 05.10. UK – London, Garage* 06.10. CH – Pratteln, Up In Smoke Festival* 07.10. I – Milan, Legend* 08.10. I – Bologna, Freak Out / Locomotive* 09.10. I – Rome, Evol* 10.10. I – Fabriano, Sonic Room* 11.10. CRO – Zagreb, Vintage Industrial Bar* 12.10. HUN – Budapest, Dürer Kert* 14.10. B – Antwerp, Trix, Desertfest* 15.10. GER – Hannover, Chez Heinz* 16.10. GER – Berlin, S036* 17.10. GER – Dortmund, Junkyard* 18.10. F – Paris, Glazart* 19.10. NL – Leeurwarden, Neushoorn, Into the Void* 20.10. GER – Munich, Feierwerk, Keep It Low* 21.10. A – Vienna, Arena* — 31.10. RUS – St Petersburg 01.11. RUS – Moscow 03.11. DK – Aalborg, Aalborg Metalfest 04.11. GER – Osnabrück, Bastard 05.11. GER – Karlsruhe, Stadtmitte 06.11. F – Poitiers, Le confort Moderne 07.11. E – Barcelona, Razzmatazz 08.11. E – Callosa De Segura (Alicante), Auditorium 09.11. E – Madrid, Nazca 10.10. I – Fabriano, Sonic Room 10.11. E – Bilbao, Santana 27 * with Ancestors
It would be impossible and improper to separate Reflections of a Floating World from the context of its predecessor. 2015’s Lore (review here) was a bold statement of arrival by Massachusetts trio Elder, a no-doubter Album of the Year, and a marked stylistic leap from 2011’s Dead Roots Stirring (review here) into a bright-toned and progressive vision of heavy rock and roll that even the 2012 Spires Burn/Release EP (review here) did not fully foretell. It paid off the potential that guitarist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo, bassist Jack Donovan and drummer Matt Couto have shown since their 2008 self-titled debut (discussed here), and though the six-track/67-minute Reflections of a Floating World doesn’t represent the same kind of broad stylistic shift overall, it nonetheless pushes further along the richly individualized path they found their last time out and expands both the sonic palette and the lineup itself in key ways.
Like Lore, Reflections of a Floating World arrives with lush, beautiful cover art by Adrian Dexter on Armageddon Shop and Stickman Records, and like Lore, it was recorded by Justin Pizzoferrato at Sonelab in Easthampton, MA (feature here), so listeners shouldn’t necessarily be surprised at some commonalities between the two records, but in composing and piecing together these tracks, Elder also brought in keyboardist/guitarist Mike Risberg — a bandmate of DiSalvo‘s in the side-project Gold & Silver, who released their debut, Azurite & Malachite(review here), in 2014 — who’ll also tour with the band as a fourth member, as well as Mike Samos, who contributed lap steel guitar, electric mandolin, theremin and other sources of flourish to the textures of tracks like “Staving off Truth” and the penultimate atmospheric stretch, “Sonntag”; essentially a five-man jam edited into a lengthy interlude between the band’s more common, fluid part-barrage process of songcraft. The additional arrangement elements were something hinted at in Lore‘s title-track, but it’s on Reflections of a Floating World that these ideas are more completely brought to fruition, and Elder are a more complete and, frankly, a better band for refusing to do anything other than make the songs they want to make by any means necessary.
That alone could be taken as a sign of the maturity that in part defines the course of Reflections of a Floating World, but the album’s prevailing sensibility comes through in the graceful manner in which it moves from part to part, song to song, while building toward a cohesive whole that offers the listener a guided immersion few acts in the US or elsewhere can match. They begin with a half-hour opening salvo of three extended tracks in “Sanctuary” (11:41), “The Falling Veil” (11:40) and “Staving off Truth” (10:43) before digging even further into proggy textures with “Blind” (13:39), “Sonntag” (9:01) and closer “Thousand Hands” (10:01), and the consciousness of the flow they craft isn’t to be understated. “Sanctuary” starts with guitar establishing a full-toned riff joined in seconds by bass and crashing drums and in under 20 seconds an album that will do nothing if not take its time to say what it wants to say is quickly in motion. One does find that Elder have grown more patient in their execution, but also more clever. They tease payoffs and turn elsewhere in “Sanctuary” to buck expectation; a sign of compositional confidence and the knowledge that their audience will follow them on their winding paths, which, if past is prologue, they of course will.
Turning through gentler breaks, heavy roll and a vast-sounding lead, “Sanctuary” hits the six-minute mark and moves into a psychedelic stretch it will build from twice-over, and its poise in doing so becomes an important factor in the album as a whole — something that the slow, soundscaping intro of “The Falling Veil” takes up immediately. If “Sanctuary” was the rocking opener, “The Falling Veil” is where Elder introduce more of Reflections of a Floating World‘s progressive elements, with Risberg making himself known on Mellotron as the song begins its post-midpoint instrumental push into the plotted known-unknown, finding there a winding dose of riffing that brings a sudden stop and move into the drifting intro to “Staving off Truth,” which further works to unite the heft and the scope of presentation thus far brought to bear, and I’d gladly argue, succeeds in that, representing a moment of balance for Reflections of a Floating World and emphasizing in a not-overblown manner the way in which Elder have continued to develop over the last two years, expanding rather than remaking, but committed as ever to their sonic and stylistic growth, shown as much in the lush depth of their mix as in the sweeping current that runs under all of it.
Performance is also a factor in this. As crisp as Reflections of a Floating World sounds with the spaciousness in Couto‘s drums, the resonant push of Donovan‘s bass, Risberg and Samos‘ contributions and DiSalvo‘s alternately airy and dense guitar work and more-confident-than-ever-before vocals — he features in the initial verses of “Blind” in a braver way than he ever has — the album is vital in spirit. It explores, but doesn’t linger, and while their live show has always been somewhat rawer than their studio offerings, it’s clear Elder are retooling that balance somewhat as they revamp their lineup and expand their overarching scope as they do in the second half of this record. “Blind” is the longest inclusion at just under 14 minutes and starts with blown-out drums before moving into organ-topped rhythmic and melodic sway, a long and engaging instrumental midsection providing the crux and a winding finish easing into “Sonntag” with a dead stop similar to “Sanctuary” and “The Falling Veil” earlier. “Sonntag” starts quietly but pulses and quickly introduces its improvised-seeming course, which unfolds patiently as a languid, almost Euro-style prog jam marked out by guitar noodling over a steady line of bass and drums.
If there’s a point of utter departure for Elder on Reflections of a Floating World, “Sonntag” would be it, and though it would be strange to call a track that’s nine minutes long an interlude, the effect is basically the same: A moment for the listener to catch their breath before they head into closer “Thousand Hands.” It just so happens that with Elder, that moment lasts longer and finds the band adventuring into sonic territory they’ve never before covered. Go figure. They fadeout the jam and cap “Sonntag” with a drone before the shimmering guitar line that starts “Thousand Hands” launches, reviving the earlier momentum but still affected by the peaceful context of the stretch before it. One would expect “Thousand Hands” to be the payoff for Reflections of a Floating World as a whole, and it indeed does hit that mark in its late crescendo, but it also effectively summarizes the progressive ideology that is truly at heart in the narrative of the album: Elder mature, established, quickly becoming one of the most important American heavy bands of their generation.
That’s the story here. And if the question coming into Reflections of a Floating World was just how Elder would emerge from the considerable shadow cast by Lore, the answer is they emerge shining. Their aesthetic movement has always been forward-directed, and though it seemed like they found the answer they were looking for with their previous record in terms of sound, they’ve apparently embarked on an entirely different subset of questions. As a fan, I still have no idea what Reflections of a Floating World might portend for Elder‘s future, and I’d no more suggest that their next record might build directly off this one than I would’ve suggested this one would build off the last, but one way or another, three-piece or four-piece, proggy meander or crushing riffs, Elder remain a special band whose sound has only become more their own over time, and Reflections of a Floating World is another Album of the Year candidate that finds them at the to-date height of their collective power.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Is your calendar marked for June 2 yet? Do people still mark calendars? Am I the only one? Well, set a reminder or, I don’t know, get a preorder in or something, because June 2 is the release date for Elder‘s fourth album, Reflections of a Floating World, and I know that for a lot of you as well as for me, it’s a potential album of the year. The follow-up to 2015’s Lore (review here), it will be released by Armageddon Shop and Stickman Records, and to support it this summer, the four-piece have announced a stretch of European tour dates on which they’ll be supported by King Buffalo.
Hard to think of better company for King Buffalo on their first Euro run than their labelmates in Elder, who by now have moved themselves to the forefront of the American heavy sphere. This tour will find them at fests like Stoned from the Underground, Red Smoke, Bukta, Lake on Fire and SonicBlast, and they’ll come back to the US for a corresponding run in October — they also play Stumpfest in Oregon this month — as they support the record, for which the righteous Adrian Dexter cover art has newly been unveiled. You can check that out below, followed by the tour announcement, and the previously-posted album teaser Reflections of a Floating World.
From the social medias:
ELDER – REFLECTIONS OF A FLOATING WORLD ALBUM ART / TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT!
We can’t wait any more to start rolling out some more news regarding the new album and upcoming tours so… we won’t.
Here is the cover for our upcoming album “Reflections of a Floating World”, handled by our resident visual magician Adrian Dexter, who again used album’s double LP format in a unique and beautiful way. We’ll reveal some more of his stunning work for the album and format details later.
To kick off the release, we will hit Europe for a tour in July/August, playing for the first time as a four-piece. We are happy to announce that labelmates King Buffalo will be joining us. They released their killer debut album “Orion” last year and we’re looking forward to their jams live.
A US tour is in the works for October, as well as some other tours being planned. Can’t wait to share the album with you all and see some new and old faces on the road soon.
Elder / King Buffalo European Tour 2017: 14.07.2017 GER – Erfurt, Stoned From The Underground 15.07.2017 PL – Pleszew, Red Smoke Festival 16.07.2017 GER – Hannover, Chez Heinz 17.07.2017 DK – Copenhagen, Pumpehuset 18.07.2017 TBA 20.07.2017 NOR – Tromsö, Bukta Festival 21.07.2017 NOR – Oslo, Blå 22.07.2017 NOR – Fekkefjord, Fjellparkfestivalen 24.07.2017 GER – Hamburg, Hafenklang 25.07.2017 GER – Wiesbaden, Schlachthof 26.07.2017 GER – Berlin, Lido 27.07.2017 NL – Nijmegen, Merleyn 28.07.2017 GER – Siegen, Vortex 29.07.2017 TBA 30.07.2017 F – Paris, Glazart 31.07.2017 GER – Munich, TBA 01.08.2017 I – Milan, Magnolia 02.08.2017 RUS – Moscow, Volta* 03.08.2017 RUS – St.Petersburg, MOD* 04.08.2017 A – Waldhausen, Lake On Fire Festival 05.08.2017 GER – Beelen, Krach Am Bach 06.08.2017 UK – Bristol, The Fleece 07.08.2017 UK – Edinburgh, Studio 24 08.08.2017 UK – Manchester, Soup Kitchen 09.08.2017 UK – London, Underworld 10.08.2017 UK – Bournemouth 11.08.2017 P – Moledo, Sonic Blast Festival* * only Elder
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
What, you thought I wasn’t going to post the first audio to be made public from Elder‘s new album? What’s been titled Reflections of a Floating World and given a June 2 release date through Armageddon Shop and Stickman Records gets its first peak in the teaser clip below, along with some of the art by Adrian Dexter that, from what I saw when I was fortunate enough to be in the studio with the band back in December, will be something of a highlight in and of itself among 2017 outings. And then we get to the music. Kind of.
It’s only a little over a minute long, and much of that is given to a showcase of texture — that is to say, the Massachusetts three-turned-four-piece aren’t giving away all the goods their first time out — but from what I got to hear of Reflections of a Floating World, texture is actually going to be a big part of the progressive step forward they’re taking from 2015’s Lore (review here). Seems fair to expect a good amount of ambience this time around, and late in the clip below there’s just a little slice of their more rocking side, which never felt particularly likely to go away, particularly after the shimmering display of balance they put on with the last record.
Elder, who celebrate 10 years as a band in 2017, were recently confirmed for the Days of Darkness Festival this October in Baltimore (info here), and you’ll have to forgive my assumption that many more tour dates will be announced in the months ahead. The big question in my mind at this point is what Elder will ultimately do with all that momentum they had coming off Lore, and how much will 2017 be their moment? Can they capture that kind of lightning in a bottle twice? If anyone could…
Ponder it while you watch the clip below, and enjoy.
More to come:
Elder, Reflections of a Floating World teaser
Our new album is entitled “Reflections of a Floating World”. It will be released on June 2nd, 2017 via Stickman Records and Armageddon Shop.
Here’s a short teaser featuring a preview of some music and artwork by Adrian Dexter. We are looking forward to sharing more details including the full album art, track listing, tour dates and a full song with you soon!
