Elder Island

Elder Island, a Bristol-rooted indie electronic trio, fashions an opulent and emotive strain of ambient electro-pop encased in a retro-futurist aesthetic that echoes earlier British ensembles such as Broadcast. Vocalist and cellist Katy Sargent, bassist and programmer Luke Thornton, and guitarist and keyboardist David Harvard first encountered one another at Bristol University, discovering common ground in their enthusiasm for avant-garde sounds. They launched the project under the name Traví as an experimental audiovisual undertaking that initially operated within a folk framework before migrating toward house music. Their self-titled debut EP appeared in 2014 and received several spins on BBC 6 Music. Deliberately avoiding haste, the members allowed extended refinement before issuing the follow-up EP Seeds in Sand in early 2017. By the release of their first album, The Omnitone Collection in 2019, the group’s approach had settled into a slower, more soulful idiom shaped by R&B and disco influences. Every performance occurs live; the compositional routine consists of taping lengthy improvisational sessions that are later dissected into loops and sculpted into finished pieces, occasionally requiring years to complete a single track. Sargent’s sultry, smoky delivery recalls Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, while Thornton’s steadily expanding assortment of exotic percussive instruments continues to inform the trio’s sonic growth.