Kodacrome's darkly lit "Play Dead" feels sad and sultry

"so moody and cinematic"

Oh Lord, when I first heard Kodacrome's darkly lit Play Dead I was transported. Sinking into my chair and then into my surroundings and exclaiming words in my head including a deity I don't believe in. I am an absolute sucker for deep full acoustic piano driven music, comely chords that feel at once extremely sad but sultry at the very same time. Elissa LeCoque's vox feel that way too and the entire aesthetic also portends some mysterious potential danger. It is so moody and cinematic, dark times, the morning after, after something dramatic occurred. 

Kodacrome is "a two-person production team disguised as an electronic bands" based out of Brooklyn. It is no wonder that Play Dead feels so cinematic because members Elissa LeCoque (arranger, vox) and Ryan Casey (synths / production) both have backgrounds in visual art, set building, film-making and screenwriting.

Their EP "Banff Sessions" featuring original compositions for piano, voice, strings, woodwinds, horns and ambient analog synths drops on March 6 (2020).

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Robb Donker Curtius






THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

Kodacrome is a two-man production team disguised as an electronic band. Currently based in Brooklyn, members Elissa LeCoque (vocals/arrangements) and Ryan Casey (synthesizer/production) share a background in visual art, set-building, filmmaking, and screenwriting, all of which has spilled over into the presentation of their original analog synth-based catalog. Over the last decade, Kodacrome has become known for their dark, textured, minimalist production, and layered vocal melodies, as well as their art-department-heavy video content, and small-batch merchandise. 

Elissa & Ryan first met in 2009 while touring via their respective solo projects for the Belgian-based label, Marathon of Dope. The pair quickly recognized a kindred spirit of sonic and visual storytelling, and began a cross-country collaboration – swapping files from Elissa’s home base in San Francisco, and Ryan’s Bushwick warehouse studio. By early 2010, Kodacrome was born, kicking things off with a smattering of experimental shows in the US and Europe, and eventually setting up shop seaside in Martha’s Vineyard, where Ryan had been commissioned to build a venue and recording studio. 

After 18 months of remote coastal living, Elissa & Ryan released their first studio album, Perla (2012), and returned to their urban roots in Brooklyn. Their second studio release Aftermaths (2014) soon followed, accompanied by several self-directed videos, and features by Indie Shuffle, BBC, CMJ, and Clocktower Radio. 

In 2016, after encountering a roadblock on the direction of their third studio album, Kodacrome decided to switch gears and dedicate a year to their visual foundations. What began as a simple music video concept, snowballed into an all-consuming project, consisting of nine sets, electrically-wired lights and motors, and a borderline-obsessive stockpile of dollhouse-sized set pieces. The resulting music video for “Oh, You Two” aesthetically informed the production of their subsequent double LP Think Of The Children (2018), which was released on Brooklyn experimental label, FOIL, and was featured by KCRW, Vice, The Line of Best Fit, and Marvel’s Runaways. 

Following Think Of The Children, Kodacrome participated in artist residencies at the Mudhouse in Crete, and the Banff Centre in Canada, where they studied the expressive relationship between orchestral instruments and analog synths, and ultimately arranged and recorded a chamber-based redux album. Their resulting EP Banff Sessions (2020) features original compositions for piano, voice, strings, woodwinds, horn, and hints of ambient analog synthesizer. The experience of recording music “off the grid” with no click track, and making use of human players became an addictive process, which they look forward to implementing in their impending return to synth-forward works.