Elle Belle

Los Angeles-based New Englander Christopher Pappas launched his solo endeavor Elle Belle with a swaggering experimental pop sound that first drew notice through the 2014 debut single “You Better Mean It.” Blending spacy and crafty elements of rock, pop, folk, and psychedelia, the project delivered its initial full-length statement via the 2016 album Wako Gumbo, whose textures echoed Brian Jonestown Massacre, 13th Floor Elevators, Beck, and Sonic Youth.

Born in Auburn, New Hampshire, Pappas initially gained traction fronting the Everyday Visuals, a melodic jangling indie pop outfit that anchored the New England rock scene and issued two well-regarded albums during the late 2000s. Relocating from Boston to Los Angeles, he started the solo outlet Miracle Parade, which released its lone record, 2011’s Hark!...and Other Lost Transmissions, through Rilo Kiley bassist Pierre de Reeder’s Little Record Company. By 2013, while grappling with a follow-up, Pappas began rejecting his earlier methods; personal catharsis prompted the creation of the Elle Belle alter ego, enabling a markedly freer and more unrestrained songwriting approach.

The 2014 single “You Better Mean It” carried a druggy psychedelic atmosphere that fused an unusual blend of Brian Jonestown Massacre and early Beck. Over the ensuing two years Pappas composed, tracked, and performed the majority of instruments for the debut full-length Wako Gumbo, a sprawling 20-track set issued in 2016 that roamed from gritty garage pop through haunted psych-folk to atmospheric spacy epics. Two years afterward, the 2018 release No Signal extended the exploration by incorporating bright synth pop elements.