Alexander Kotz, performing as Elderbrook, produces buoyant electronic dance music driven by prominent synth textures. His initial major breakthrough came through the 2017 joint single “Cola” with CamelPhat, after which he joined forces with Gorgon City, Clean Bandit, Kx5, and additional artists. Alongside a series of EPs, Kotz issued his first official studio album, Why Do We Shake in the Cold?, in 2020 and delivered Little Love in 2023.
London-raised Kotz performed in an indie rock outfit throughout his teenage years, simultaneously serving as guitarist and singer/songwriter. He briefly explored hip-hop before discovering his direction in electronic music while attending school in Bath, England. Merging Alt-J’s eccentric tendencies with Disclosure’s skill for memorable grooves, he captured ordinary sounds—ice cracking, voices, falling objects—and reshaped them inside his productions to form a suspended, weightless space anchored by deep rhythms.
Elderbrook reached underground prominence in 2015 via Andhim’s remix of “How Many Times,” drawn from his opening EP Simmer Down, which Rudimental’s Black Butter Records released. His second EP, Travel Slow, appeared in August 2015. The singles “Closer” and “Sorry” followed in 2016, coinciding with his official remix of Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye.” Multiple singles surfaced during 2017 and were later assembled on the Talking EP, yet the CamelPhat collaboration “Cola” proved decisive, ascending to the top of the U.S. club and dance charts while appearing on listings throughout Europe and Australia. Elderbrook released the single “Sleepwalking” in 2018. Over the ensuing year he offered further singles, among them the U.S. Top 40 partnership with Rudimental titled “Something About You.” Work on his debut album began, yielding its first result with “Numb” early in 2020; “My House” arrived next, preceding the full release of Why Do We Shake in the Cold? on Parlophone toward the end of that year.
Prior to his second album, he collaborated with Ytram on “Fire” and with Bob Moses on “Inner Light” as non-album tracks, while also contributing “When I Talk” to deadmau5 and Kaskade’s Kx5 project. In 2022 Elderbrook opened the era for his next album with “Howl” featuring Tourist and “Beautiful Morning,” both taken from Little Love, which reached stores in March 2023.
