Elk City

Elk City functions as an enduring New York art pop ensemble led by vocalist and occasional bassist Renee LoBue together with drummer and producer Ray Ketchem. The project originated in 1997 when Ketchem and LoBue departed their prior band, the Melting Hopefuls, whose elastic roster prompted the duo to seek fresh collaborators. Guitarist and vocalist Peter Langland-Hassan’s audition convinced them to pursue alternate sonic paths, resulting in the decision to rebrand the effort as Elk City in order to signal a shift toward roots-oriented material. The presence of dual vocalists steered the trio toward intricate harmonies and shared vocal passages, fostering a more collective creative dynamic than the Melting Hopefuls had maintained.

Unnamed at the outset, the musicians began tracking their debut record in early 1998. A defining sonic ingredient surfaced the following year when they acquired a vintage Novation Bass-Station analog synthesizer that LoBue quickly adopted as her principal instrument. The first track to incorporate the new sound, “Judori,” written to celebrate the wedding of friends Jude and Midori, served as the band’s inaugural single in early 2000. Their first album, Status, appeared in the United States via Hidden Agenda in June 2000; a modestly altered European version issued by Talitres early the next year appended the eleven-minute piece “Trapped.” Warm Records released the follow-up full-length, Hold Tight the Ropes, in 2002.

Langland-Hassan departed shortly after that record’s release, leaving LoBue and Ketchem to sustain the group. LoBue responded by composing a new set of songs shaped by the guitarist’s difficult exit, and the pair began laying down material for New Believers in 2004. After a brief stint with Drag City’s Brother JT on guitar, the lineup expanded in 2005 to include ex-Luna guitarist Sean Eden and ex-Lovelies bassist Barbara Endes. Issued two years later, New Believers inaugurated a fresh chapter by discarding the earlier country-rock leanings in favor of a taut indie-rock approach reminiscent of Patti Smith, the Pretenders, and David Bowie. House of Tongues arrived in 2010 and continued the melodic singer-songwriter emphasis within an indie-rock framework.

Following several years of inactivity, Ketchem established a recording studio in Montclair, New Jersey that drew clients such as Guided by Voices, Versus, and Luna, while LoBue contributed vocals to numerous sessions there. The pair revived Elk City with Sean Eden returning on guitar alongside keyboardist Carl Baggeley and bassist Martin Olson. This configuration issued a cover of the Motels’ “Suddenly Last Summer” as a single in November 2017, then delivered the full-length Everybody’s Insecure in March 2018.