Movements

Movements is the new album from Champaign-Urbana-Chicago’s Elanors, led by the songwriting (and married) duo of Noah and Adriel Harris backed by the rhythm section of Daniel Johnson and Rodrigo Palma (both from Judah Johnson’s band). This, their second album, is a collection of piano-driven orchestral-pop and disarming folkrock invention. Like concert music for dirty clubs, Elanors’ music is delicate yet severe; mannered yet devastating; antique yet futuristic. It’s often said that everything good to come out of music in the last 40 years comes from the Beatles. But for inspiration, Elanors instead dip into the centuries of material which preceded the ‘60s – Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven, Britten – and set their own blurred, romantic, and fractured song-pieces to sub bass and elastic beats. There’s a precedent for this; bands like Blonde Redhead and Radiohead have used baroque chord progressions and melodies to gorgeous effect; and Jeff Buckley and Talk Talk used sprawling, almost symphonic forms which rethought what a rock song could be. Elanors see themselves both as part of this great tradition as well as innovators within it. In addition to the aforementioned artists fans of Ron Sexsmith, Richard Swift, Innocence Mission, Rufus Wainwright, and Eskju Divine will find much to love here.