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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Ela: In defense of poetry
Wednesday 17 January @ 14:59:05 |
  by NATHAN DEAN
The first time I heard local rock quartet Ela, their sound hit me like a brick in the face. The hard-charging electric guitar shards that introduced "Worry Worry," the first cut on the group's 2004 debut Stapled to Air, had me immediately salivating over the prospect of a fractured update on the Midwestern emo-rock sound pioneered by the likes of Braid during the late '90s. That was only for about two tracks, however, as the band's din suddenly made a sharp right hand turn into unhinged balladry on "I Don't Know if It's Helping." The zigging and zagging continued throughout the album's remaining tracks, with front man Bill Caperton just as likely to let loose with a blood curdling yelp as a pleasant vocal melody, guitarist Knol Tate's fretwork just as likely to bare its teeth with some serious shredding as placidly pluck a pop-friendly lick. The quiet/loud, fast/slow song dynamics were kept locked down by a veteran rhythm section, bassist Sean McPherson and drummer Peter Leggett, whose dexterity was already honed through years on the rhythmically intensive live band hip-hop circuit as members of Heiruspecs. The end result was an intoxicating hybrid, a prickly post-rock outfit with serious groove in its pants.
 With national distribution for Stapled to Air in place via indie imprint Third Earth and strong airplay on University of Minnesota station Radio K, Caperton and Co. were optimistic about taking the world by storm, playing national indie music showcases like the CMJ festival in New York City, when the wheels fell off. Third Earth went belly up, band members' other musical commitments made extensive touring with the original line-up too difficult to pull off, and Ela seemingly fell off the face of the earth for the better part of a year.
"That period was a lot of frustration and a lot of ups and downs and a lot of wanting to quit," admits Caperton, 27, now more than a year removed from that period and ready to unleash sophomore Ela album Real Blood On Fake Trees. "I was reassessing what I really cared about. Why did the band matter at all anymore? But as soon as Sean, Peter and Knol got together with me again in the studio, it was just a chemistry thing where we knew it would continue and we would make another record."
Real Blood On Fake Trees is emblematic of the trying times that wrought its creation. It's a moody, sometimes difficult, listen. The 11-track album shows the band simultaneously expanding on some of its more experimental impulses (the brooding fuzzed-out march of "Force the Ending"), while also laying down some of its most directly rocking songs to date ("Checks Getting Cashed"). There are somber meditative dirges ("Shiver Tree"), but also slow-churning reggae-tinged guitar pop ("Come Down to the Water").
While Stapled to Air was a poetically inclined break-up album fueled by the dissolution of a long-term relationship and Caperton's then recent post-collegiate return to the Twin Cities, Real Blood On Fake Trees is a far different lyrical beast. "A lot of the songs are more about trying to find your place in the world as opposed to personal introspection," says Caperton, who holds a degree in creative writing. "I think that's just been a natural progression in terms of my own life."
Caperton's more outward looking lyrical focus has resulted in a set of tunes that capture our current cultural climate perfectly. Whether contemplating the soul-sucking nature of dead end cubicle jobs in "Checks Getting Cashed," or the bitter mixture of guilt, disenfranchisement and apathy felt by the populace as the Iraq war 'surges' onward without their approval in "Build A Garden."
"Garden's" lyrics manage the rare feat of personalizing the political while avoiding polemical bleating, resulting in the kind of song that more truthfully captures the moment than any tacky anti-war slogan ever could ("I'm implicated / In every unchecked power / And what goes on in backrooms / Is in part because I choose / To keep my freedoms mine / Isn't that what we call it? / So I can spend my dollars / Or I can wait for what?"). Caperton's lyrical pen is similarly deft throughout Real Blood, crafting a dark world of paranoia and displacement occasionally tempered by glimpses of light.
"I do read a lot of poetry," admits Caperton sheepishly while stifling a grimace. "It's got such a bad rep and a bad vibe right now, which is really too bad. I think there's a lot of really important stuff happening in that world right now. The word 'poet' is almost like the word 'hippie' now; it automatically has all of these really lame connotations. Literature is a huge influence on my songwriting; it's becoming more and more immediately resonant with me. It's basically to the point now where I have to read in order to be able to write."
Now four years on from its formation, Ela has already faced its "mid-life crisis" moment as a band and emerged on the other side as a tighter and more committed unit. What comes next is anyone's guess, but Caperton, for one, won't be sweating the details. "Our expectations are different and more realistic, and I also think we've realized better ways to go about doing things," he says of his band of longtime friends, all graduates from St. Paul Central High School. "We've gotten comfortable with the fact that we're not going to be a band that takes the country by storm by touring for five years. We're approaching it now like we're going to make music together when we can, and it's going to be great and creatively satisfying. Then we'll put it out in the world. That's enough for me." ||
Ela plays two CD release shows for Real Blood on Fake Trees on Fri., Jan. 19 at the 7th St. Entry. 5 p.m. all-ages show with Kill the Vultures and Shoe Shiners, 9 p.m. 21+ show with Kill the Vultures and Duplomacy. Both shows $6. 701 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8388. For more information on Ela check out their official website at elamusic.net.
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