A strange combination and turn of events meant I found myself in my friend’s room at our dorm in Copenhagen one night. He was playing the keyboard with headphones on so I couldn’t hear the tune. It was midnight. I was trying to book last-minute plane tickets with his credit card to Toronto.
I was flustered, finding this normally easy task to be a feat. Meanwhile, he moved from the keyboard to his guitar with the intention of replacing the strings. I asked him if he had ever replaced the strings on a guitar. He responded, “No.” “Did you look it up or something?” “No, but how hard can it be.” Then he proceeded to replace the strings on his guitar; he just did it.
The difficulty I was experiencing with a very familiar task sharply contrasted to my friends apparent ease with even unfamiliar tasks. Sometimes the barriers we face come from within rather than from the goal we are trying to attain. My friend doesn’t see those barriers. Neither does Elderbrook.
Elderbrook’s Unorthodox Methods Produce an Unorthodox Sound
Elderbrook, aka Alexander Kotz, is an artist from the U.K. creating his own brand of music. Although he has a musical background, he is unfamiliar with synths. But he does not see that as a barrier to creating good electronic music. Rather, his self-proclaimed lack of knowledge of synths means that he uses everyday sounds to create his own brand of “minimalist electronica”. These sounds include the cracking of ice in hot coffee, the snapping of reading glasses, water spilling on a laptop, and housemates chilling. The diverse sounds are especially present in my favorite from the EP, “Woman.”
With his unorthodox methods, Elderbrook has created an unorthodox EP with Talking that can only be described as uniquely “Elderbrook.” Interview Mag says of him, “As a producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Elderbrook wears every hat when it comes to his music.”
Have a listen to the Elderbrook-sound for yourself on Spotify or iTunes.
