Elderbrook: Little Love Tour.
written + photographed by hunter astrid
After a long and busy day, this concert was a perfect way to vibe out and listen to some good music.
Elderbrook -
The last and main act of the night was Elderbrook. He has extremely soft vocals that are paired with very ambient beats. The rest of the night was filled with more ‘calm vibes,’ but Elderbrook made it clear it was time to bring up the energy. His highly anticipated set made the crowd go crazy the second he stepped on stage; his deep bass tones could be felt in my chest. Although he’s just one man, his music is filled with complicated layers, sounds and vocals; while performing he also does everything himself and makes it look so effortless and easy. Heavier dance music is not usually my style of music, but seeing Elderbrook made me understand the hype of it all.
Elderbrook, real name Alexander Kotz, is an electronic musician from London. He released his first Ep in 2015 titled Simmer Down. It featured the song "How Many Times" that ended up being one of the best songs of 2015 according to British electronic dance and clubbing magazine Mixmag. He has since released two studio albums: Talking (2017) and Why Do We shake In The Cold? (2020). The song that helped put his name in the spotlight is a collaboration with CamelPhat. "Cola," released in 2017, reached number one on the dance club songs chart in the US as well as the indie chart in the UK and was nominated for best dance song at the 2018 Grammys.
His journey into a musical career started by playing in an indie band before becoming the singer-songwriter. When he went to university he was exposed to electronic dance music and started to make the switch in genres. He also wanted to explore a more hip-hop and soulful sound and approach. Kotz is a very versatile musician and a multi-instrumentalist. He is classically trained in piano as well as guitar. He likes to create things that he hasn't heard before. In his opinion, "phonetics are as important as lyrics" and he uses a wide array of unique sounds as samples to tie his music together. His main influences come from country, soul, rock as well as gospel. If you are looking for vibey and interesting music, I would highly recommend listening to Elderbrook.
MY FAVORITE SONG: "One By One" with Diplo + andhim (2021)
ford. -
The second act of the night was ford. and I was instantly mesmerized. I’m not an electronic dance music scholar, I only listen to it from time to time, but something about ford. and his sound really stuck out to me. And I don’t think I’m the only one. The crowd was hypnotized, feeling the music throughout their body. ford.’s music makes me want to go on a late night drive back in my home town blasting his music when the windows are down. Which I will most definitely be doing next time I go back. It gives a feeling of calm and hope which is something that we need in the world right now.
Since he was ten years old ford., real name Luc Bradford, has been making music. He started off by using a DAW/Program to learn production; in high school his music taste shifted and he started to upload his material onto Soundcloud. He took piano and drum lessons for a while when he was younger and also experimented for a little bit with clarinet. As he got older he discovered he could learn more if he just taught himself rather than take lessons. In 2018 Clay from ODESZA stumbled upon ford. on Soundcloud and signed him to the Foreign Family Collective. The FFC is an independent record label and community founded by ODESZA that includes artists like Echoes, Higher Grounds, RÜFÜS DU SOL, ODESZA, PLUKO, and of course ford.
ford. released his first studio album in November of 2018 and is titled (The) Evening. Almost exactly two years later he released his second album The Color of Nothing. In his own words, the album represents “the vast, indescribable blankness you see when you close your eyes” (Quip). In May of 2021 he also released The Color of Nothing (Reprise). In 2020 he was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Remixed Recording for the song “Swim (Ford. Remix), remixer (Mild Minds).
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Warmth” off of (The) Evening (2018)
EREZ -
EREZ was the first artist to take the stage. Her energy was spunky, energetic and upbeat. While maintaining vocals throughout the whole performance, she bounced in between using keys, synth and electric guitar. Her voice has an elegant rasp to it and many of the notes she hit reminded me of a combination of Amy Winehouse and Dido. You could tell from her set that she truly loves to perform. Half way through her set Madi Tanguay, a contemporary dancer, joined her on stage for two songs. Her movements matched perfectly with EREZ’s heartfelt and emotional beats. Madi’s dancing looked like what EREZ’s music sounds like. Many of EREZ’s songs had a haunting element to them. They had deep bass lines with a dream-like and distorted piano layered on top that are completely by vocal reverb.
EREZ is a New York City born and Israel raised queer artist and producer. She’s doing something that not a lot of people can say about her line of music; she’s a woman producer. Although there are female producers out there, EREZ really takes pride in producing her own music and not having to rely on others to get the songs done. Her music is more than just music and she’s creating a whole musical landscape. She has yet to release a studio album or EP, but she’s been releasing singles since at least 2018. Her most well known song she has released so far is titled “Modern Dream” which came out in April of 2021. Her most recent release came out in February of 2023 and is titled “Where’s My Voice.”
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Modern Dream” (2021)
