Long Way From Home
In this day and
age, all it takes is one song. The bouncy and melodic Home was that song for Los Angeles group Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeros, a mish-mash of odd little couplets combining to create a modern
paean to love, “Home is when I’m alone
with you.”
From their debut
long-player, Up From Below, released
in 2009, it took the oft-time 12-piece to the top of the indie folk/rock pile. The
difference between them and many others who’ve been propelled to the lofty heights
of international stardom with a single number however, is that they’ve not
faded away; one-hit-wonders they ain’t.
What’s followed
has been a study in solid growth. “[That] first album has some really
interesting stuff, but [wasn’t] really quite as sure of itself,” says frontman
Alex Ebert.
“Production-wise,
and songwriting-wise, [2013’s self-titled effort] is the most adventurous stuff
we’ve ever done. By quite a ways, actually.” Evolution is the key here, the
reason Edward Sharpe have been able to stay on top.
The band, fronted
by Ebert and Jade Castrinos, and driven in large part by the writing of the
former, has, since Home brought them
to international recognition, released two more albums, toured the world,
including Australia a number of times, and continued writing.
“I’m writing tons
and tons of stuff [at the moment],” Ebert laughs, going on to say evolution in
sound is still very important to the group. “At the moment, I’m exploring just
about everything.”
Given the band
operates with as many as a dozen players at any one time, you’d think they’d
have no trouble continually coming up with new musical directions in which to
travel. You’d think as well, that it could be a case of ‘too many cooks’.
“Well, usually
it’s one person presenting a song, usually it’s me so far,” explains Ebert, who
earlier this year, won a Golden Globe for his scoring of the Robert Redford
film, All Is Lost. “What we’d like to
do though… is get into a room with all 12 of us, and try and write songs as a
gigantic group. I think that would be fun.”
Risky, but then
Edward Sharpe have never been ones to do things by the book. Another possible
left-of-centre idea Ebert has been toying with is a live album, with a twist.
“We’re putting out a live recording towards the end of this year, and I love
our live recordings, but it would be fun to just write an album, tour it,
record the tour, and then put that
out as the album.
“You’d really have
to work through [the songs], and they’d have to really work live, which I think
would be a really fun experiment.”
As they look to
the future then, and another studio recording, the fact the path isn’t cogently
mapped out is all part of the Edward Sharpe adventure. “You know, I’m not
totally sure,” Ebert muses on where to next, sonically. “I’m not sure I have a
lead on exactly what we’re supposed to do yet… we have gone into the studio and
stood around the mic and come up with things on the fly… that won’t indicate
what kind of songs are going to happen, but that’s the process [this time].”
It’s from the
unknown that those great songs spring – that’s where Edward Sharpe are most at
home.
Samuel J. Fell
Gig: Enmore Theatre, April 10 / Byron Bay Bluesfest, April 17
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au / www.bluesfest.com.au
Live: Folk/pop with a twist
Best Track: Home, from Up
From Below
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