Swedish artist Elias has had huge success in the previous years with singles such as 'Green Eyes' and 'Revolution'. Recently delving into a more classical sound, he has been striving to channel raw and honest emotion into something poignant and sincere. The end result is his hauntingly beautiful second album 'Holy, Endlessly, Sad, Love.'
Vulnerability is a core theme throughout the project, something Elias struggled with for many years. Only util recently finding the strength to be brutally honest in his art. 'Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love' is both disarming and energising, and we had the opportunity to speak more in depth with Elias about the release.
Introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you!
"I'm a singer and songwriter living in Stockholm, People who listen to my music tend to think I’m sad, which of course I sometimes am, but most of the time I’m quite happy. Music is my every day life and also paint a lot."
So your new album ‘Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love’ has just been released! How does it feel to have it out there in the world?
"It feels great, I’m really happy about how it came together so I’ve been waiting for people to hear for some time now. Of course it’s terrifying at the same time."
How has the reaction been so far?
"I don’t know yet, but It feels like people like it, that it’s more intimate then the stuff I’ve done before."
Is there a meaning behind the name?
"It came to me quite early in the process, I thought it sounded almost like a movie title,
I was writing about relations between people, and the boundaries we make. The tragic and sad thing about love but how it still is necessary for our happiness."
Are there any key themes or influences that are prominent throughout the album tracks?
"I was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s album 'Nebraska', I loved the plate reverb sound and how it felt so live recorded. I fell in love at the same time which changed everything, I felt like I had a lot of strong things to write about. and i wanted to record a lot of it live, so I did. And tried to capture a raw feeling, that was intimate and felt direct."
Any fun or behind the scenes stories of the recording process that you can share?
"It was a fun and very giving process, me and Teodor Wolgers who’s a great pianist and who I've produced and written most of the songs with, basically just met up in his studio, sitting for hours just playing around, slowly finding the right melodies and vibes, kind of just jamming around."
Do you have a favourite lyric or whole track? If so, which one and why?
"Hard to say……. I like how 'last time' turned out, the lyrics came to me straight away, and I recorded it live and kept the demo take. The line “say what you need me to say” felt strong to me. Still I wanted it to sound kind of low key, and to be just a vibe, that you feel. Your'e in this situation when you wanna be with someone and are like ready to do whatever it takes for it to work out."
You’ve just put out the beautiful video for ‘I’ve Been Waiting’. Can you tell us a little about it?
"I knew I wanted a simple video, just me singing and being really upfront. Ive never done that before. Just like a video by the smiths that I really like. So me and Sofie k Skoog (the director) just made the concept super clear. And So I emptied my living room, where we shot the video, And we brought Peter Milanov who’s a great photographer, and Per Norman (editor) to the team. And put it all together."
What’s coming next for you?
"I’m gonna tour around Europe in spring and just try to play a lot live, since it’s been so long, and these songs are made for hearing live, and then release more music!"
'Holy, Endlessly, Sad, Love' is out now. Listen HERE @eliassongs
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