Elias (SWE)

Brave, honest and open, the second album from Elias, Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love, released on Haele Records and AntiFragile Music in October 2021, is to all intents and purposes a classic soul record. Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love also heralds a new approach, one in stark contrast to the trademark “big sound” of the Swedish singer’s career to date. The album’s first single, the gentle and reflective ‘My Kind of Fire’ suggests that Elias stepped back to take control of a creative situation that maybe threatened to get out of hand.

Ellias’s output has often been shaped by his willingness to listen and learn from others: he has travelled the world to write songs with various writers and producers. It has been a major factor in his success, from his earliest days in Tensta Gospel Choir to working with the likes of Paul Epworth, John Hill and Fraser T Smith.

And an understandable one. The working class lad from Stockholm had to learn about the pop music industry at the deep end at a very early age. But, despite the strange and contradictory demands success often brings, Elias has always managed to spend time out of the spotlight, steadily building up a base of allies and friends. Now he feels ready to release on his own label, Haele Records. A move more attuned to the do-it-yourself days of punk than that of the hyper-collective, team-oriented world of modern pop. Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love was, in Elias’s words, the result of a “striving after rawness”.

The record took initial shape in Stockholm, where Swedish pianist and composer Teodor Wolgers worked alongside Elias, and is credited as co-writer on six of the album’s eight songs. Wolgers’ own work often harks back to Swedish Jazz legend Jan Johansson’s interpretation of old folk melodies, and this fusing of traditions can be clearly spotted in Elias’s new approach. Initially the plan was to impose a limit on the number of tracks in the production. And although this idea of limiting the sound fell by the wayside, the record is still very open and full of space.

This new spirit, as well as the musical nous gained over the last few, whirlwind, years is evident throughout Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love. You can point to the clever use of emotive hooks, such as the way the melody in ‘Holy’ builds up incrementally, each sonic element leaning on the other for support, brilliantly reflecting the subject Elias sings about: “two friends who plan to take over the world one day. ‘Holy’ is a feeling that everything is forever, even though you know that it can end at any moment.” Watch out, too, for the piano key stab that informs the glorious ballad, ‘Hold It Out’; the clever drops reinforcing the lyric and the emotion stored behind them. And take the time to listen to the myriad ways Elias’s voice brilliantly exploits subtle changes of emotion and meaning in the arrangements. Listen to the sharp chord change and vocal drop working together when Elias sings the title line on ‘Crooked Heart’, for instance. It’s a musical dovetail that’s as old as the hills, but one that somehow, magically, still reveals the singer’s core honesty. This is your best mate singing, getting straight to the point.

The sass and bravery in Holy, Endlessly Sad, Love is both disarming and energising. It’s a record full of music that can thrill and intrigue in equal measure. And it is clear that Elias’s new music has demanded a considerable amount of guts and honesty in its making. You can point to the fragile vocal and ghostly arrangement that announces a key track like ‘Let Me Be the One’, the forceful outro also cleverly sidestepping any meaningless bombast. Restraint is the key throughout; a perfect match of true intent and canny execution. ‘Let Me Be the One’ captures the underlying spirit of the album perfectly. Elias: “‘Let Me Be The One’ is about when you have been alone for a long time, many years, and then finally for the first time try to open up, completely vulnerable.”

Vulnerable this music may be, but that’s often the price to pay for being brutally honest in art. It’s also Elias’s guiding creative spirit: the music he makes has to have some basis in his life. Otherwise, it’s not worth singing about. Of the new tracks on his new LP he says, “I write about what's inside and around me at the moment.” This honesty is driven by a stark choice. From an early age Elias has seen what he doesn't want to become. And to him, there really is no other option. It’s this, or cleaning floors.