Search - Ellul :: Ellul

ellul's self-titled debut is, unlike much contemporary vocal music, genuinely surprising. Recorded up and down the California coast in a vaulted hilltop church, an industrial warehouse, a community center, and a living room, the album was produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb (Liz Janes & Create (!), Castanets, I Heart Lung). Over the course of a year the group added contributions from Adam Garcia (Timonium, Imaad Wasif) on drums and Anthony Shadduck (Nels Cline, I Heart Lung) on acoustic and electric bass. Lyrically, the group examines the painful history of a transplanted Haitian son confronting a nation for its second-degree murder of a people; lovers asking the questions of the age; and a heart longing to be known. ellul asks for reasons--for calm and coups, love and hatred (self- and otherwise)--and brings the listener into each movement with honest, inventive music. Sometimes subtle, sometimes raw, the vocal harmonies are both unsettling and sweetly evocative. Dueling live/programmed drums, shimmering guitar distortions, and looped electronics converge with choral harmonies and dark electronic textures. ellul has made a fiercely creative debut ... now let's see who's listening.