Elias: So Cal Artist To Watch In 2009

"While I have learned not to be too cryptic or abstract in my songs, I seek a universality in songs that will contain a broader message that is at once simplistic and complex--depending on where the listener is ready to accept the listening..."

Why I Like Elias:
It does my soul proud to find artists that expand the typical "christian" view of art. Too often we forget our roles as children of a creator, and bind ourselves in an off-kilter interpretation of the "Do Nots." I believe in rules and in order, but if Christ set the whole individual free then He must have set their passions free too. Unbelievers might be drawn to God if we actually lived like we were set free from a suffocating prison. Why should we pretend like we're still in it? Elias' music brings me to a place where I can enjoy quality music in freedom. His seamless transition between soulful vocals and tailored MC skills puts him in the top 20 of my, "Most Interesting Current Artists" list.

How I found Elias: A brief history

Around Thanksgiving time Sev Statik of Deepspace5 graciously offered his friends on Facebook a free album of their choosing. I asked for the album he and producer extraordinare Dust put out in the highly regarded Rawkus 50 called Back To Dust. I'm glad I did because it's an amazing piece of work. The one track that really stood out to me was called Far Cry which is a man's story of how he has fallen short in becoming the man he wanted to be. The song stayed in constant play on my media player because of Elias' unique singing voice and catchy vocals...

"I'm so far away. I didn't plan to be this way. My life's not what it should have been. I'm not the man that I could have been. It's a far cry from the days of my youth. It's a far cry from the days of my youth."

Those lyrics resonated with me, and the tune has been stuck in my head for weeks. I decided to look into who this artist was, so I started at Elias' Myspace page. In my research I found out that Elias has not only worked with Sev and Dust, but he's working on various projects with Mars ILL and he's working with the brilliant band from Denmark Dafuniks. Not to mention he's also a member of the Scribbling Idiots crew along with one of my favorite MCs TheoryHazit.

Leaving His Mark In Denmark

While on Myspace, I asked Elias about his work with the funky "secular" band Dafuniks. Their soulful work together is nothing short of amazing. Some believers might question Elias' intentions in writing such love songs as All I Want and Hello I Love You. As someone who appreciates these tracks I wanted the inside story on how he came up with the lyrics. This is what he had to say:

"That song [All I Want] exists on several different levels. It IS a secular song. That is to say there is nothing explicitly religious about it.
On one plane it is ONLY about a woman that I fall in love with while I'm on stage. (fictional) So it is a very simple song about "desire." However, as with "Hello, I love you." I can actually be talking about something entirely different. I do think attraction, love, desire, lust, are all interesting topics that are very real to us. We confuse them, use them, and mix them up until they are all one thing. That is the reason why at one point in the song I'm saying, 'it's the come on before the front on, before the run on,before the safety's off and the gun on, before I'm looking down the sights of a muzzle, before you look at me and smile...you a puzzle. I seen you before girl I know your name..you ain't looking for love your looking for games.'
So, within desire and lust you have this larger pull at the back of your heart--the one that REALLLY longs for love. A real love that is that kind that is "All I want" not the kind that is immediacy and flash passion. So, then the last verse of the song is actually changing the protagonist into someone worth chasing after--the divine but personified in the "her". It's the realization that YES--THIS Is IT. So, the last verse is really about God. Most people will not know that but it is not always the poet or story tellers job to tell the meaning of a story. Sometimes they just tell a story and share art. I'm not writing sermons--I'm writing music that people 'feel.' When they feel they come up with observations, ruminations, and interpretations that even I never intended--but that essentially is art. It is neither something the artist can cling to and claim or owned entirely by the listener/viewer."

Referring to the track Hello I Love You, Elias commented:

"In the song Hello, I love you it appears that I'm doing a song about picking up on people...but I'm not...I'm loving life itself and recognizing that while desire, hope, and passion are all important in life--Love binds all these things together to make sense. That is why the verses start with 'My name is desire and such/I'm the one that brings the fire and lust' and the second verse starts, 'My name is hope,broke? Nope. Y'all think I choked..."

Personally, I enjoy Elias' venture in word-play. It's this kind of transparency and creativity that I look for in new music. I can see some of our God fearing number not agreeing with Elias' lyrics, and that's ok. Maybe some rich conversations about what it means to be a Christian and an artist will come out of it. Hopefully the world will hear enough of Elias to get that dialog rolling.

Elias' Myspace
Dafuniks.com


Elevate LA Behind The Scenes Extra: My Actual List Of "Most Interesting Current Artists."

(This is a musical artist list)

1. Berto Ramon
2. Surreal
3. Sufjan Stevens
4. Dust (Mars ILL)
5. Joanna Newsom
6. Freddie Joachim
7. Mates Of State
8. The Welcome Wagon
9. Elias
10. Jupiter7
11. Flatfoot 56
12. Tycho
13. TheoryHazit
14. Mr. J. Medeiros
15. Josh Garrels
16. Mariee Sioux
17. Trace Bundy
18. Listener
19. Judah the Lyrical Rev
20. Soul Addicts
(Truth be told, this will probably change some by tomorrow)