"I’m in hell but i like the heat / and the people I meet / they’re alright / In the back of my mind it’s alright..."
The inner dialogue / jaunty stroll down subtopia of "Back Of My Mind" by diverse L.A. indie band Elle Belle, led by award-winning composer and songwriter Christopher Pappas, is a stripped down invitation inside his headspace or at least a snapshot at a particular time (wink). I am digging the bass sound, the machine beats and the kind of disco stair stepping moments. This track kind of runs like a mid 90's Beck song but with Jesse F. Keeler playing bass while soft colliding with the Tom Tom Club. I sense a fair amount of self deprecation, a comic flair (maybe a dark comedy), a vibey passion play having to do with getting lost in your own head and maybe unable to get out of your head when it would be better if you did. We have all been there haven't we?
LYRICAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In the back of my mind it’s alright
We can make a night
Just check out the back of my mind
it’s alright
it’s alright
yeah the back of my mind
babe every single time
like shadows on the wall
it’s a short fall
sorry i missed your call
every single time in my mind
every time i close my eyes
I have dreams in black and white
technicolored
every body has a price
1, 2, 3, 4, are you bored yet?
In the back of my mind it’s alright
It’s alright
We can make a night
Just check out the back of my mind
it’s alright
it’s alright
I hope this finds you well, guess what?
I’m in hell
but i like the heat
and the people I meet
they’re alright
In the back of my mind it’s alright
We can make a night
Just check out the back of my mind
it’s alright
it’s alright
We can make a night
Just check out the back of my mind
it’s alright
it’s alright
I hope this finds you well, guess what?
I’m in hell
but i like the heat
and the people I meet
they’re alright
In the back of my mind it’s alright
We can make a night
Just check out the back of my mind
it’s alright
it’s alright
In the end, "Back Of My Mind" is a track that calls out to you in both light and dark ways. It has a fun vibe that would have inspired out of this would dance struts on the Soul Train Line. At the same time you could interpret some kind of askew underbelly to this track, a crooked white picket fence at that one house that never gets fixed or an awkward slap on someone's ass at a back yard neighborhood BBQ. Yeah, "Back Of My Mind" is that slap in the ass. And I like that.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.youtube.com/@ellebelleband
https://ellebellenosignal.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ellebelleband/
https://www.patreon.com/ellebellemusic
“Yeah, I think they’ll drop the bomb. I guess my one regret is that I’m over it.”
Post Everything is about reckonings. The emotional fatigue of the last few years had filled my heart with a deep misanthropic nihilism. Through personal, political, and cultural grieving, these songs rake through the ashes of an era and ask - where do we go from here? Post Everything is a journey through this nihilistic wasteland, and that if we dig deep enough, we can still find droplets of hope.
Elle Belle is the alter-ego of award winning composer/songwriter Christopher Pappas. His debut album WAKO GUMBO, a sprawling 20 song double LP, was released in 2016 to critical acclaim followed by his sophomore album No Signal that received 4 stars from All Music who called him “a swaggering experimental pop maverick with a penchant for spacy electro-organic psychedelia and an overflowing bag of big ideas.”
“Thinly cloaked as his views may be, Pappas offers a fresh take on the nation's social climate while also expanding his sonic territory.” - Timothy Monger for All Music
Pappas grew up in rural New Hampshire where he started the band The Everyday Visuals. After relocating to Boston the band began to amass a cult-like following of fellow musicians and fans who were attracted to Pappas’ penchant for vocal harmonies and catchy left-of-center songwriting. He moved to Los Angeles in 2010 where he met Pierre de Reeder, bassist for the venerable L.A. band Rilo Kiley. Pappas released a solo record under the name Miracle Parade on Pierre’s newly founded label Little Record Company. While recording the second record he suffered a creative breakdown, leading him to abandon the record and create Elle Belle.
Mixed with a variety of genres; psych-rock, prog, electronic, Elle Belle continues Pappas’ knack for rich, intricate songwriting. He has written music for NASA, composing the soundtracks for the Juno and Rosetta mission official docu-series. He also composed an award winning musical (“Pope! An Epic Musical”) with the Wall Street Journal praising it, proclaiming “[Pope!] is proof that the musical [genre] isn’t dead!” He is also a prolific writer, churning out 2 T.V. pilots and a new full length horror feature that are currently in pre-production. His dense and eclectic catalogue is why many consider Pappas as one of America’s most prolific and captivating under-the-radar artists.
Elle Belle, indie pop, indie rock, abstract rock, led by singer songwriter / front man Christopher Pappas, emotional, confessional storytelling, "Back Of My Mind", off Broadway, dream theater, personal stories,
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