Even if there’s a playfulness running through Chase Elodia’s bouncing “readreceipt,” it belies the inventiveness and thoughtfulness in the lyrics and arrangement. Drummer Elodia is joined by vocalist Claire Dickson, bassist Tyrone Allen, and keyboardist Theo Walentiny whose otherworldly solo lifts the piece into another dimension. Elodia’s drum patterns build the song’s groove, creating a solid, dizzying sonic latticework for the others to fill in.
“I tend to write songs with a lot of words,” Elodia explains, “so I wanted to challenge myself to write one with very few lines and see how much meaning I could extract from a limited set of material.” The repetitions add gravity to each phrasing, and Dickson’s performance only heightens that further. Each word becomes a world unto itself, moving between fast-paced, looping deliveries and lilting silhouettes. The repeated line, “I know you know,” is the universe holding it all together. It’s hypnotizing and imaginative.
Musically, “readreceipt” bounds into the light with eyes wide open with tight transitions and a recurrent insistence. The rhythms twist and turn in countless ways adding layers of impatience and frenzy that not only add interest to the piece but make the whole thing more engaging. Elodia is the glue, but Allen and Walentiny add boundless energy and glossy texture.
“readreceipt,” which is up for consideration in the ‘Best Arrangement – Instruments and Vocals’ category in this year’s Grammys, appears on Chase Elodia’s forthcoming album, Portrait Imperfect, which was released earlier this year via Biophilia. Grab a copy HERE.
Chase Elodia Quartet is also heading out on an East Coast tour that includes dates this week at Yale University in New Haven (October 13) and The Owl in Brooklyn (October 14). More info on upcoming performances can be found HERE.
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