Photo: {ELSE} - elsetheband.com
{ELSE}
{ELSE}
There’s a sense of loneliness that radiates from the cover art of experimental rock group {ELSE}’s latest full-length album. There’s more blank white space than anything else—like how movies often depict a state of limbo. Even the title, Here Waiting, implies that someone we’re waiting on has not yet, and might not ever, arrive.
Digging a little deeper, it turns out that the members of {ELSE} have not yet performed any of the nine songs that appear on Here Waiting together in person. Isolation has been a prevalent concept in a lot of art in the past two years thanks to the pandemic. Here, {ELSE} takes those ideas and loosely frames them within an acoustic space opera —one that plays off of the idea of an unnamed protagonist leaving earth, reflecting on the positive and negative people in their lives while floating around in space, and then returning home. It’s something almost anyone who lived through 2020 can relate to within their own person context.
“Every other song is about someone you really adore or cherish and then others are about someone you really don’t like,” says guitarist Ken Heberling. “During the pandemic, we noticed this dichotomy of the best of humanity and then the worst.”
Here Waiting is the band’s third studio full-length album and is a departure from the group’s previous releases that span just over a decade of being a band. Whereas the band’s first release Who Will Cry is riddled with heavy-metal inspired riffs accented with warping effects, Here Waiting takes a more stripped-down approach to the band’s music. Pumping the breaks on the grit and the high energy, the acoustic-experimental approach allows the qualities that separate {ELSE} from other hard-rock groups to stand on their own: modulating effects, frenetic guitar work and complex orchestration.
As lead vocalist Shane Mattox wails his way through each track, Heberling tinges his guitar tone with industrial-esque electronics while drummer Michael Sinshack cycles through an arsenal of percussive doodads.
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Banging on Anything
“What I like about this project is that I was sent the acoustic tracks and we were going to keep it light, so I would try and find non-percussion things,” Sinshack says. “I was pulling out suitcases and anything I can bang on for sampling. It was just a lot of fun to have that complete sandbox.”
The album kicks off with “Anything But,” a song that deceivingly starts off as a straightforward acoustic jam but then reveals the {ELSE} charm during the chorus—subtle electronic effects are heard underlying a catchy chorus that’s backed by bursts of choral vocals. Up next is “Sparrow,” which introduces violin and cello parts, culminating in a beautiful, melancholic conclusion. Both of these tracks are driven by Heberling’s busy guitar work, drawing on his metal chops without dominating the music.
We are then introduced to the first of three instrumental tracks on Here Waiting—“Stratos.” These tracks each indicate various stages in the aforementioned space isolation theme, with “Stratos” being the departure from earth. It’s a calm buildup until just after the two-minute mark where the metaphorical ship has launched and the pace picks up. But, just as suddenly as it speeds up, it slows back down, and we’re in space. It’s an experience that’s best taken in while wearing headphones and closing your eyes.
You Can’t Run
Later, the track “You Can’t Run” delivers an unsettling experience, as the guitar parts rapidly pan between left and right speakers. It sounds like if a tremolo effect instead just rapidly switched between two speakers.
“When I had to record the drums for ‘You Can’t Run,’ I had a headache for the first 30 seconds,” says Sinshack.
Adding to the discomfort is the meaning behind the lyrics. “I see people [in my life] in certain scenarios where they are trapped,” says Mattox.
But the discomfort of that tune is offset by a booming chorus accompanied by some of Mattox’s best vocals on the album, showcasing his range with not only dynamics, but with his register.
“You Can’t Run” is followed immediately by the second instrumental track on the album, “Ether,” an almost entirely percussion track. If this track is meant to represent the reflection done during isolation, then Sinshack’s impressive drumming is the fluttering of a mind left to its own devices for far too long.
Return to Earth
“What It’s Worth,” the album’s penultimate track, is perhaps the record’s most standard acoustic ballad, featuring vocals by Molly Zembrowski, a Milwaukee-based theater actor. Closing out the album is the final instrumental track “Terra,” which signals the return to earth, or reality. Featuring pulsing electronic beats and what sounds like notes being played backwards, it’s a short but sweet end to an eclectic and spacious collection of songs.
There’s a lot to unpack with {ELSE}’s third full-length. Like its subject matter, it’s a journey—one that takes ample time for reflection here and there, but ultimately dives headfirst into the soundscapes of isolation. It’s a deceiving package—one that at face value is a stripped-down release from a band known for its heavier experimental rock, but is actually layered with a multitude of parts and instruments.
For many hard rock and metal artists, this album would be a difficult feat. To best appreciate those subtle intricacies, grab a pair of headphones, turn up the volume and isolate yourself with {ELSE}’s Here Waiting.
