While it’s often looked at with nose upturned, over the past few years bands that fall into the “screamo” category have been making some of the most progressive aggressive music out there. It’s fitting that Elle, a new band out of California’s Bay Area, is a collection of some of the best, featuring members of Loma Prieta, Beau Navire, and Yearbooks all working together to offer a melodic update on the sound they’ve all but perfected.
Today, The A.V. Club is streaming all of Elle’s five-song, self-titled debut ahead of its digital release tomorrow, with a vinyl release coming in the spring of 2017 on Conditions Records. Each of these five songs offers something new from a band made up of musicians not content to repeat the same thing twice. “Mockingbirds” is easily the catchiest creation any of Elle’s members have committed to tape, and the swaggering “Pulse” is something the band describes as “Soul-punk.” Give the entire thing a listen below, and read a quote from the band about the values informing “Pulse,” and the EP as a whole.
“We played with the term in the past but it rings true now. ’Pulse’ is a soul-punk song. It speaks from the soul. It says something from a very guttural, emotional, reactive place. It says something very intrinsic and deliberate. We did something on purpose, we meant it, we mean it. Bodies are on the line that we will strive to protect, but we also cherish the soul.
We believe in the magic and meaning of the special and different people in our lives. Their contributions past, present, and future. Their struggle now, their struggle then. Their really real fears and their really real hopes. Those are the things we want people to remember. We want people to remember what we all mean, who we all are, who we all tried to be in the best way. The things we all wanted to mean to people. All of our family, our friends, our lovers. That we all have an opportunity to say something that is special and nothing to shy away from.
This is the art we present and why we do this.
It is not pretense, it is pure feeling.”