Elderbrook - Good Enough

You know those soft white towel dressing gowns you’ll find waiting for you in hotels that are few steps above your typical Travelodge or Premier Inn? Good Enough by Elderbrook is a little bit like that. It sounds all warm and welcoming and late night cosy, as if you’ve sauntered up from the cocktail bar, bleary eyed, ready for sleep with Elderbrook in your room ready to serve up the best honest-to-god silky and creamy hot chocolate you’ve ever had.

Of course Alex Kotz, the man who is Elderbrook, isn’t singing about comforting drinks, instead he’s crooning about a relationship, the staple diet of pop music. But what sets Elderbrook apart is the attention to detail in Good Enough. There’s lots going on here, but it’s all so subtle and gently poised you'll need a few listens to really soak it up. 

Good Enough is taken from Elderbrook's forthcoming Travel Slow EP out through Black Butter on the 21st August.

Good Enough - Elderbrook

Elderbrook - Going ft Kweku Collins

Every year since the blog’s inception in November or December we publish a list of 10 or 15 Ones To Watch for the forthcoming year, often going before all the main polls such as the BBC Sound of List, or even the Blog Sound of poll that we help run. Looking back at the ten artists we picked for our 2015, some of them are doing reasonably well. For instance one of our tips, The Shires, scored a UK top ten album with their debut long player, the first British country band to do so. Likewise the likes of Seinabo Sey, Laura Doggett, Låpsley, Ryn Weaver and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man have all been picking up fans as more people get to hear their unique talents, the question now being for them all, can they deliver an album that hits the right spot? 

One of the other acts we placed on the list of 10 was Alex Kotz, also known as Elderbrook. However, since posting on his Facebook in February that a new EP was coming, there’s been very little sign of activity; until now, with a 'new' song called Going which is actually one of his older tunes reworked. This is a piece of music that does maximum / minimum production very well. It finds space in between the sounds, despite there being lots of really interesting things going on. There’s the heavy late night bass, the skittering beats that crackle to life and then disappear like a firework, the snatches of cut n paste guitar, the vocal harmonies, and a guest appearance from rapper Kweku Collins. It’s a track with a languid, spliffy groove, although there’s nothing lazy about the song’s construction at all. Dance music that’s awkward and engaging? You’ve got it right here.

Elderbrook will release his second EP Travel Slow via Black Butter Records soon. Going is available as a free download from this link.

Elderbrook - Going ft Kweku Collins

Ones to Watch 2015 #10 - Elderbrook

Choosing the 10 artists in this year’s Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2015 has been harder than any previous year. We could have quite easily expanded the list to include artists such as Vaults, Raury, All We Are, Shannon Saunders, Soak, Kacy Hill, Claudia Kane, Ibeyi, Rebecca Clements, Sam Sure, Honne, Black Honey, Billie Marten, Shura and Meanwhile. The number of possible choices shows that music is in very good health in terms of emerging talent. 

However the final artist we’ve chosen is UK based singer, songwriter, producer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist Elderbrook (real name Alex Kotz), who first cropped up on Breaking More Waves late in 2013 (around a similar time that other choices such as Laura Doggett and Lapsley did) and has subsequently signed with Black Butter records, home of the likes of Rudimental and Clean Bandit.

The reason for our eventual choice is because of the exciting possibilities this artist offers. The small amount of his music published so far has managed to blend elements of dance, hip-hop, folk, electronica and soul in a way that is both exploratory and yet accessible. Some (including ourselves) have referenced Alt-J as a possible reference point with certain songs (although not the ones we're streaming below) but there’s a sense with his work that he really could go in any direction – categorisation here is pointless. What we do know is that the construction of his songs is fascinating, formed as they are from unusual beats and ideas, but those ideas are never over loaded, Elderbrook let’s his songs grow giving them a very organic and natural feel.

Elderbrook’s debut EP Simmer Down was released at the start of the week. What comes next we’ve no idea, but we’re fascinated to see.

Elderbrook - Could (Video)



Elderbrook - How Many Times

Elderbrook - Could (Video)

Last month we streamed Could, a track from Elderbrook’s debut EP and today we’re revisiting that song because of this new video. Fusing music and visuals with striking results New York based artist Lauren Gregory has created a piece that combines oil paintings of Elderbrook with stop animation. The results are deserving of far more than a You Tube video viewed on a mobile phone or computer; somebody get this one in a gallery please.

Could is taken from Elderbrook’s debut EP due on the 24th November through Black Butter. We wrote about the music here.

Elderbrook - Could (Video)

Elderbrook - Could

Last year we introduced to readers of Breaking More Waves one Alex Kotz who records under the name of Elderbrook. At the time he’d released a small handful of scuttling twitchy tunes of home recorded goodness that possessed huge amounts of imagination, sonic ingenuity and fascinating beats. Since then there’s been a gulf of silence and it now transpires that the reason for that quiet was that Elderbrook has subsequently been signed to Black Butter Records, home to the likes of Gorgon City, Clean Bandit, Rudimental, Kidnap Kid and potential rising star Sam Sure.

The first signs of a resurgence of activity from Elderbrook came in July when an Amber Run remix was uploaded to Soundcloud bearing his name and then a few days later a Bipolar Sunshine remix followed. Now finally we get to hear what he’s been up to with his own music and the results are very stylish. With an EP ready to go (Simmer Down) new song Could is essentially a house track, but it’s the house equivalent of a rock musician going acoustic; everything is stripped back leaving plenty of space within the song’s modern minimalistic design. It takes a couple of plays to get under the skin, but whether you’re getting reacquainted with Elderbrook or this is your introduction, it’s a fine offering. 

Elderbrook - Could

Elderbrook - New Waves

Ever since the likes of James Blake and The XX arrived on the scene, minimalism has found its space back in pop music again. Less is more is very much back in vogue, with the likes of London Grammar and Lorde being recent additions to the growing pop arsenal of successful acts who keep things simple to find success.

Today we’re introducing Elderbrook (real name Alex Kotz), a UK based singer songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist from the fair city of Bath, Somerset, who has caught our attention with a couple of downtempo smackers he’s uploaded to his Soundcloud titled Going and Rewinding. Like all of the above named artists Elderbrook never over stuffs his music, although there are bags of ideas going on in what he does. 

Imagine Alt-J if they’d been gorging on hip-hop records and soul in the midnight hours and you’ll be getting somewhere close to his sound. Elderbrook is very much another musician showing just what you can do these days with modern technology – his Facebook quite clearly showing his music recorded at home – sweet-tempered vocals recorded in the bathroom, snappy skittering beats on his laptop in the lounge. Who needs expensive studios and a team of music wizards behind you to create good music? All you need is a creative brain and the tools to be able to express your ideas. Elderbrook has this package.

Elderbrook - Rewinding