Young Elk is a Portland, OR quartet led by songwriter and ” incoherent maladapted frontman” Ezekial J. Rudick. Following August’s EP, Minor Keys, the band have announced their debut album to be released later this month. The Dark Side of the Holy Ghost was born after a brush with death caused Rudick to question his once steadfast faith, making for an understandably evocative record which pays respects to the triple whammy of grief, cynicism and confusion. As Rudick describes:
“What most people will tell you is that a brush with death draws them closer into the divine. They turn things around. They press deeper in. They draw nearer to that spiritual ‘life force.’ That didn’t happen to me. Instead, I came out of the OR more confused, angry and heartbroken than I had been in my entire life.”
The title track is a perfect example of the sort of vibes you can expect. Imagine taking the slow-burn bitterness of Bazan, adding the sinister undercurrent of Water Liars and sprinkling an almost Berningerian knack for imagery both mundane and melodramatic, and you’ll be getting somewhere close to how it plays.
“How I wanted to be dangerous
but I also want big business,
raised up again like Lazarus
like a suicidal mistress.And how I want to be alone,
just play Molina on the stereo
and hear the saddest songs I’ve ever known”
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The Dark Side of the Holy Ghost for release on the 18th November and you can pre-order it now from the Young Elk Bandcamp page.