Elbury

As we enter the home stretch on this super-extended, pandemic-disrupted, always-second-guessing, second album project, the time has come to release Passport into the wild. Passport was the last song written for the album, sneaking onto the track listing when it was still incomplete, but with enough promise to win a spot.

Lyrically ambiguous but evoking a feeling of being lost in your old haunts, unable to find your way back home. In the end, Passport is about trying to make a journey back to somewhere in the past – but that could be a place, a time in your life, a state of mind. Elbury bassist and film-enthusiast, Luke, took up the task of bringing these feelings to the screen, and put together a music video through the course of 2021.

The video presents a simple trip on a suburban train as a metaphor for a more personal or spiritual journey, with the protagonist seemingly contemplating some other destination. Through dream-like sequences, the faces of colourful personalities in our Brisbane communities blend in and out. They progress through their personal vignette – most of which were improvised – and disappear from view.

The idea was to capture their reactions, in reflective moments, spurred on by either hearing the song or having it explained to them. Each person was invited to design their own moment, and we were looking more for the instant emotional impact than a pre-planned shot.

Armed with a handy camera to truly capture the spontaneity of every person’s “moment”, we bore witness to the possibility of all being included on that journey of reflection.

Another album, another beautiful video by Patrick Delaney! This time around, he has helped us bring our vintage-love-song-soft-rock-slow-dance number, Heroes & Villains, to life! Between the Morningside School of Arts and the bedroom and bathroom at Mike’s place, we captured the nerves, pitfalls and triumphs of a school dance and, as an added bonus, the band got to play on a stage under lights for the first time since before the pandemic!

Heroes & Villains stars Tahlia Downs and Daniel Hutton and they both worked perfectly in the roles! Direction and concept development by Patrick Delaney. Music by Elbs.

A massive shock for the crew early in the evening on New Years Day – “Whispers” had landed the #3 spot in the 2020 4ZZZ Hot 100! Massive thanks to all the Zed crew who supported our 2020 efforts, especially Simon at Zedition, the OZONE team and Tina at Goldilocks Folk. We’ve never actually had a song that was eligible for voting, let alone making the countdown, let alone making the Top 3! Huge thanks also to everyone who took the time to throw a vote our way.

Have a listen to “Whispers” (and its humble B-side “Half the Night”) at elbury.bandcamp.com and see what all the fuss is about 😉

New music soon!!

Our launch show for “Whispers” at the Paddo Substation was a great night – big thanks to Treehouse Letters for bringing the cool tunes and the good vibes, and everyone who made it along. We were overflowing out into the footpath, which was a great feeling! Check out some snaps from the night below, including original artwork on the CDs by David Turner (@slowdukespress).

And make sure you give the tracks a listen on Triple J Unearthed below (and rate, and review!).

Whispers
https://www.triplejunearthed.com/embed/8846486

Our new single “Whispers” (and a B-side) is almost set to be launched into the world… Partake of the grand unveiling on Saturday 7 December at the Paddington Tramways Substation, good sir! Indubitably, the premiere occasion on a great many social calendars this spring season! Details here… Tickets here…

But how can we launch a killr single without a killr video?? We can’t. So, early in November, we got together with film students Brendan and Sterling for a one-day shoot to bring Whispers to the screen! Check the photos below – between our DIY approach to filming a moving car (without leaving the garage) and some extremely sketchy acting by the band, an interesting outcome is all but assured!

See you Dec 7!

Great to be back at Hunting Ground Studios! Two tracks done and dusted and super-keen to get back into a few more! Thanks to Luke Woollett for making it a breeze and squeezing all the parts in – can’t wait to hear the mixes!

The pick of this first batch will be our lead single – look out for it in late November. And who knows, maybe a special celebrity mixer will get on board – stranger things have happened! Stay tuned.

Babies and world travel opportunities popped up in 2018 and, before we knew it, the year was gone!  The time was well-spent, though – we have a folder (well, a virtual folder…) full of songs for a new album and, as 2019 kicks off, we are starting to look for a producer to all us all into shape and make the magic happen!

After too long out of the live scene, we took a road trip down to Mt Burrell in February to play a lunchtime show at the Sphinx Rock Cafe. It was great – new tunes and old stuff all went over really well with the crowd and we’re already making plans for a return visit.  Have a look at a couple of clips from the day below.  These are both new tunes vying for a spot on the next album – Burnt and Story of Your Life.  Enjoy!

Elbury – Burnt (Live at Sphinx Rock Cafe) (2019)

Elbury – Story of Your Life (Live at Sphinx Rock Cafe) (2019)

2018 is shaping up as a year of new directions for Elbury. We’re starting from a clean slate, following the release of Haunting Ground last May, and the options for new directions in songwriting seem absolutely endless, especially in the new five-piece format. To kick the year off right, with a nod to the past, we present the fourth (and final?) video from Haunting Ground – the nostalgic, late-album creeper, Old Roads.

Once again working with the talented lads at KWinc Productions, Old Roads was shot in one day on location in the Beerwah State Forest. Brooke’s acting chops landed her the starring role on virtually her second day in the band, and Brad Pizzey (Past Life Memories) joined us again – this time around he’s a creepy, knife-wielding hunter, stalking through the bush (so, playing himself ;-).  Enjoy!  See you at an Elbury show in 2018!