A mixed-media project led by Melbourne-based creative Harry Edwards, Elder Children is an outlet for writing and recording music and working with other musicians that also incorporates videography.
Active since 2017, Elder Children's process can often be slow, with a sporadic sprinkling of singles being released the last few years inspired by the likes of POND, Stereolab, and The Voidz.A kaleidoscopic mash of psychedelic electronica, fuzzy, '60s-flavoured dream-pop and lush, acid-soaked indie rock, Elder Children is beginning to drip-fed new music from a forthcoming album titled 'Reviver'.
After releasing the first single 'Slow Love' earlier this year, the next Elder Children project is titled 'Recollection', a song examining the complex nature of the mind.
New wave, Kraut-rock tinged electronica washed over with dark, eerie pop tones reminiscent of Air and Mercury Rev, 'Recollection' is a warped ride. "It's a song about the way time drags us backwards and forwards in contradictory measures," Harry says.
"We may want to stay calm and present, but we find ourselves stuck in memories – or in hypothetical situations. Our minds are often living as far as possible from our current reality."
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (30 May), today scenestr is thrilled to premiere the music video for 'Recollection'. Enjoy.
"It's also about how that can be a good thing," adds Harry, discussing further the song's intrinsic meaning, "and how we sometimes scramble to integrate the things we believed, loved, and valued in the past, with the struggles of money, political warfare, and survival.
"You'd think it was a Tom Waits dirge after that, but really, it's just another psychedelic pop song."
Although the creative vocal point of Elder Children, Harry is joined by a studio band that he is expanding to return to live shows for the first time since 2019.
"The band has been more collaborative in the past, and thankfully, it's becoming collaborative again now. I spent a few years working on other projects, focusing on video art, and figuring out what I wanted Elder Children to be, but we're ready to play shows again.
"In the meantime, I've found a way around my attention span. The balancing act is to record and perform more rough, guitar-centric material – all written and arranged around playing live. I can release that in a more raw form, because it's in the nature of those songs – and there's hours of that material to mix.
"Meanwhile, 'Reviver' will be for my more experimental, layered, sometimes neurotic, 'studio' stuff. Eventually, I'd like the two sounds to meet in the middle, with a really bloated live show: 30 trombonists, 6 pianists. . . maybe a grouchy flautist.
"Anyway, at these upcoming gigs around July and August, you'll see totally different sets of songs, from a few completely new records – and we'll be making a new member announcement soon! For now though, we're just booking shows, and getting ready."
