Are those old British bands no longer hitting the sweet spot? Need something a little special to tickle your pickle? Couldn’t get Coldplay tickets before they sold out, perhaps? No problem, folks. Take my word for it: Fossils, the new sophomore release from Vancouver band Elias, earns at least 45 minutes, if not more, of your time.
With a vibrant indie music scene, Vancouver provides the perfect background for Elias to drop their new album, which is full of ear-pleasing tunes for both local band devotees (ahem, 100.5 The Peak, that’s your cue!) and mainstream junkies. The trio, composed of Brian Healy, Rob Tornroos, and Stefan Tavares, have been rocking stages across Canada for years with their unique concoction of post-Britpop and indie rock. “We used to be a tight four-piece band that would go and jam songs out,” guitarist Tornroos elaborated, “but the number [of band members] changed over the years, and our style changed.”
And indeed, Elias has truly evolved. Unlike their debut piece Lasting Distraction, they began working on Fossils with a new angle and a clean slate to boot. The resulting sound has added many dimensions to its British roots, giving the sophomore album a fuller, polished sound and classic Canadian flavour. Imagine the band as a dark, intense lovechild from a threesome between Radiohead, Muse, and Kings of Leon, and you’d be dead on target.
This is partially thanks to their new production crew, which includes producer Jeff Dawson and famous New York sound engineer John O’Mahoney. Tornroos has nothing but accolades for O’Mahoney: “He’s mixed every Metric record and is really close to the band — he spent a long time working on Vida La Viva, too. It was really cool because he’s such a dream guy to get on board.”
The stress of making or breaking the band with the second album was high, but Elias had a chilled-out, no-nonsense policy that marks a true musician: faith. “At some point, you have to bite the bullet, trust your judgment, and go with it,” Tornroos says. “Everything [on the album] was written like that, trusting that we were on the right path with each song. Some may have strayed a little further off course, but hey, that’s part of the game.”
One such song on Fossils titled “Knockdown Dance” (which clearly outshines their chosen first single) proves that Elias can release a more sombre sophomore album while still retaining their sense of spontaneity and style. “Brian [the lead singer] went down to the jam space one night, got drunk, wrote the whole song, demoed it, and sent it to me, and I was like ‘Shit!’” Tornroos chuckles. Daps for the delicious vocals on that one, Healy. You have officially produced the most kick ass midnight drive home song ever.
To wrap things up, Elias’ sophomore effort is an excellent follow-up to their debut album, and proves that they’re only beginning to pave a path to success through our local music scene. Fossils is sophisticated, colourful, and certainly memorable enough to acquire a big thumbs up for an HMV purchase. As a bonus, the cover art is incredibly hard not to stare at (Tornroos describes it fittingly as a collage of “digital fossils”) and the members themselves are pretty much the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. There’s no two ways about that one.
