Elsa - Jump! [VINYL]

<p>Curiosity, courage, fear, longing and chaos. Wildness is followed by immeasurable tenderness - this is how the mood of JUMP!, the new album by Vienna based band ELSA, can be summarized. You want to lie down in their music, feel safe and comforted - like under water, for a few breaths.</p><p>ELSA - that's the four-piece band around singer Elsa Steixner. Born and raised in Vienna, she wrote her first soundtracks for plays and short films in 2017, first completed a preparatory course in Leipzig and then studied jazz and pop music from 2019 to 2023 at the ArtEZ Academy of the Arts in the Netherlands. Together with Julian Bazzanella (keys) and Daniel Louis (drums), whom she met during her studies, and bassist Jakob Lang, she founded the band ELSA in 2022.</p><p>With JUMP! the band explores a new world of sound after the rather acoustic debut album A Day On Solid Ground. Influenced by the urgency of artists like Nina Simone and Abdullah Ibrahim, as well as the compositional diversity of songwriters like Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell, a foundation of soul, folk, jazz and R'n'B emerges from the unmistakable sound of ELSA. This embrace of tradition, combined with a curious and attentive view of the present, lends the music a timelessness without diminishing its topicality. This time, the main line-up is joined by trombone, electric guitar, harmonium and organ, which expand the sound. David Furrer, a producer who has expanded ELSA's sound in a special way, was also involved. "With JUMP! it was the first time for us as a band to work on an album with producers. David's refined taste, his patience, his attentiveness and his skill in the craft played a big part in making the album what it is," says Elsa Steixner in the interview. This expansion, freer song structures and a wide dynamic range result in an album that is both idiosyncratic and inviting.</p>