VIDEO PREMIERE | Elbows, "Amnesia"

Reflective moments at the old mill with Elbows; photographed by Dante.

Real heads may already be familiar with the experimental r&b pop outfit Elbows, the operative moniker of the Bay Area's own Max Schieble who has been releasing ambitious arts of intrigue across the span of the past half decade. Zig-zagging between NYC, Los Angeles and the Bay; Max cut his teeth with works like the EPs Corduroy, Sycamore and today announces the long awaited proper debut album Tales From the Old Mill slated for release this October via the influential EveryDejaVu imprint. Adjacent to this grand full-length debut, Max has created a short film along with an illustrated lyric book that further elaborates upon the narratives and thematic components of the record the artist described to us with the following thoughts:

Tales picks up where my last EP, Sycamore, left off: a narrative journey to the past chronicling my experience returning home to the San Francisco Bay Area after moving away to New York and exploring the concept of home as a physical place, a memory and a desire. It's been a long time in the making and actually started with a bunch of my usual collaborators taking a literal trip home with me to my folks' house in the Bay, where we recorded at my neighbor's home studio, Studio P. Storytelling and the relationship between audio and visuals are both central to my music.

In anticipation of this momentous occasion, Elbows debuts the self-directed, filmed and animated lyric visual for “Amnesia”. Mixing pop art images of alarm clocks, cat-eyed clocks, 70s-styled typesets, recording session footage and down home moments of pensive reflection; Max takes us deeper into the inner thought realms of "Amnesia". Old school neighborhoods with picket fences, x-mas decorations, local ravines and natural greening environments are seen amid moments with keyboards, reel to reel spools, mixing boards, suburban paths along with a cameo by the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. The spooky auspices of those cat eyes from those classic kitchen time keepers serves as a visual motif that abounds throughout from Max's moments gazing longingly out the window of his family home to taking his thoughts and mixed memories out to the western shores of the mighty Pacific. "Amnesia" is edited with a host of a/v tricks that utilize a barrage of filters and flickering transition techniques that feels like falling into the retro-vertigo of a video photo album springing to life in a way that bridges the gulf between the conscious and unconscious components of human cognition.

"Amnesia" is a smooth, sultry and smoky ode to the memories and folks we can't forget and remain as a nearly permanent part of our own expansive consciousness. Elbows pays tribute to more than just the one that got away, but re-examines the hopes, dreams, expectations, situations and more with a strong degree of sincerity and sentimentality. "Amnesia" adheres to the dusty groove school of timeless rhythm and blues that explores all that was, the overactive obsessive mind frame that mulls over all that could have been that mixes the unbearable pains of longing with a sitcom sense of humor. From the mindful headspaces that sorts out the reflections that haunt and taunt the tenets of the body, mind and soul are mixed in with some classic George Costanza sound bites over the "It's Not You It's Me" routine.

Embarking upon the windy road and into the grove of sycamore trees with Elbows; photographed by Dante.

Elbows’ own Max Schieble provided some insights on the song and DIY visuals for Amnesia with the following exclusive reflections:

"Amnesia" the song:

Tales From The Old Mill is about the search for home and part of that is the home that you make with someone else, a romantic partner. One of the threads that runs through this album is the story of a failed relationship and the different points along the way of that breakdown, from being in the relationship knowing it’s not working, the moment of a breakup and down the road after the relationship is over. "Amnesia" is the entry-point to that narrative, taking place just following a break up, when you don’t know what to do with the memories of that love. After the end of the relationship I had this genuine question of: what am I supposed to do with these memories now? The good memories of a now-bad time and the bad memories now worse. What good are they anymore, now that it’s over? What do you do with memories as you move on through life?

I started this album by literally going back home to the Bay for a couple weeks with some of my closest collaborators to record at Studio P, the home studio of my childhood next door neighbor, Joe Paulino. "Amnesia" was the first song we started recording there. As I worked on the album more back in New York and other people got involved, the sound progressed into a more electronic, synth-y realm, but "Amnesia" and a couple other songs remained more or less the same as they were after those initial sessions at Studio P. In that way I thought "Amnesia" was a nice first single because it was truly one of the first tracks completed and also maintains a slightly different, dustier vibe than the rest of the album.

Crouching lion, hidden Elbows; photographed by Dante.

"Amnesia" video:

Physical location is so important to Tales as a body of work. It's an album about returning home and exploring the ways in which a place has changed and so I had this desire to document the specific places and landmarks visually, to accompany the music. Over the years of returning home, whether for holidays or to work on the album at Studio P, I would film around town with this old VHS camera that belonged to my dad. It was wild how much things had changed again by the end of the recording process, whether it was the local theater closing, the warm golden street lights being replaced with cold, white bulbs, or the spooky abandoned lumber mill being converted into a boutique shopping plaza. With "Amnesia" being the first single I wanted to begin glimpsing this place, so I took some of that footage and paired it with my longtime love of the Cooper Black font.

EveryDejaVu:

I've been a fan of EveryDejaVu since before they were a label. Nearly a decade ago they started out as a blog inspired by LA emcee Blu, who has always been one of my biggest musical influences too. His album Her Favorite Colo(u)r was such a huge inspiration for Tales, I remember so vividly walking around Manhattan in 2011 during a blizzard, listening to that album over and over again, living through the moments that would later be told on Tales. So then last year when I first connected with Wontu, aka Ryan Magnole who started EveryDejaVu, the thought of working together just made so much sense. This album has been my whole life for a number of years, and I'm really grateful to have found a home for it at EveryDejaVu, and to have the support of Ryan and the EDV crew.

"Amnesia" is available now everywhere, Elbows' forthcoming debut album Tales From The Old Mill will be available this October via EveryDejaVu Records.

Single cover art for “Amnesia”, courtesy of Elbows.