ELSKAVON EMAIL LIST:
PANORAMAS
On Panoramas, Chris Bartels redefines his Elskavon project, creating an album that feels like both a culmination of his work and a reinvention. Known for his creative approach and genre-bending style, Bartels pushes boundaries, crafting a cohesive journey that challenges traditional ideas of what an album—and the human voice—can be.
"This album is a deep dive into everything that's shaped me as a creator," Bartels explains. "My favorite songs and albums are tied to memories and seasons—beautiful, painful, grand, and small—and those experiences inform everything I do."
Panoramas builds on ideas explored in 2023’s Origins, venturing further into uncharted territory. This album captures moments, emotions, and sounds collected over years, reimagining and bringing them to life. Embracing creative accidents, Bartels allows the music to “write itself,” blending organic and electronic elements. The result challenges musical conventions, reimagining how vocals, rhythms, and textures can live and breathe within a song.
Elskavon has always been about pushing boundaries and embracing the unexpected. Bartels’ production reflects this, using experimental sampling, re-sampling, and warping to develop ideas that evolve into new forms. Vocal improvisation is key, with chance phrases and lyrical fragments becoming the emotional core of songs. Rhythmic structures arise not only from drums and arpeggios but also from chopped fragments of sound, carefully placed or left to chance. Electronic elements blend seamlessly with ambient textures and pop sensibilities, all held together by melodic threads that draw listeners into Bartels’ world.
Ultimately, Panoramas feels like a life story told through sound—a soundtrack to a journey of discovery, discomfort, and growth. It’s an invitation to explore, an acceptance of fate, and a reminder that sometimes the best art comes from letting go and following the music.
[ JUNE 20, 2025 / Western Vinyl ]
ORIGINS
On Origins, Chris Bartels takes on the role of singer-songwriter for the first time under his Elskavon moniker, unveiling a voice that wouldn’t sound out of place next to vocal-forward artists like Justin Vernon, Jónsi, or Baths, who master the balance between conventional songcraft and bold, idiosyncratic experimentation. Origins is vast yet intimate, fluttering yet cohesive, tattered yet clean, a little like rainfall during sunlight.
Throughout Origins, the patient glacial aesthetic of his previous work is still discernible-- there are wordless, expansive panoramas that stretch out patiently for minutes at a time and smartly resist the impulse to pack each moment with a persona made even more impactful when Bartels chooses to wield it. At other times, his spokesmanship is woven discreetly into a larger tapestry, like on “See Out Loud” (and its ambient reprise) where Bartels’ voice shimmers from a distance, covering the scene in diffuse splendor. “There is so much warping, mangling, re-sampling, reversing and pitching,” Bartels says of his intricate vocal manipulations. “I printed a lot of the vocal recordings onto a tape machine from the ‘60s, first at one speed, and then I’d halve, or double the speed going back into my computer,” he elaborates, illustrating how this kind of analog processing freed him from his habits. “Sometimes I’d do this multiple times on one recording or layer-- it gave me such a unique and unexpected sound. At this point, I threw away any inhibition on what type of vocals to have, or not have, on the album.”
Bartels has turned over on Origins, an album that documents his hard-won evolution from musician, to producer, to composer— and finally— his confident arrival in the role of songwriter.
[ February 17, 2023 / Western Vinyl ]
COPPER HILLS
“In my mind, Copper Hills is a transition EP of sorts - subtle and not-so-subtle hints at the upcoming Origins LP, which will be a full-on move from a more ambient, organic, neo-classical style of past Elskavon albums to a bigger emphasis on sample-based, rhythmic, electronic direction, and with experimental lyric vocals for the first time.
The most glaring, and likely unique, aspect of the EP is that it directly points to Origins, the follow-up LP, by sampling from Origins. I had parts of Copper Hills written before I finished Origins, but I ended up finishing these after Origins was mastered already, and the idea of making it a ‘prequel,’ if you will, to the LP came to me. I use bits of audio from Origins here and there, throwing them into the mix via samplers, or just by mangling the audio in different ways - pitching to match the new song, chopping and cutting things up. I’ve never done this before - sampling an unreleased track of mine in order to foreshadow its future release.” -Chris Bartels
[ OCTOBER 28, 2022 / WESTERN VINYL ]
PRESS
"Full of kaleidoscopic soundscapes that are joyfully danceable and optimistic." - Bandcamp
“A beautiful and evocative ambient classical collection.” - Higher Plain Music
“The collaborative debut of ambient-classical composers Elskavon & John Hayes, the pair’s intent was to frame the sonic strata of their home state of Minnesota’s overlong winter months. They’ve succeeded.” - Aquarium Drunkard
“As endearing to listen to as it is beautiful.” - Stationary Travels
"Bartels conjures magic here." - Mp3Hugger
"Impressively rich in sonic textures." - Alfitude
“[Elskavon] reveals time as malleable, imitating the manner in which the human mind loops back, repeats, distorts, amplifies and dulls memories, finally ceding control to neurons and synapses. - A Closer Listen
“Visionary electronic landscapes.” - Music Won’t Save You
We All Speak In Poems podcast interview
Spotify editorial features include: Brain Food, Sleep, Classical X, metropolis, Not Quite Classical, Productive Morning, Musical Therapy, Peaceful Retreat
Apple Music editorial features include: Pure Focus, Atmospheres, Pure Calm, Coding
STORE
CONTACT
Label:
Western Vinyl | info@westernvinyl.com
US Publicity:
Geo Corona | geo@terrorbird.com
UK Publicity:
Benjamin Smith | ben@echoempire.net
General:
Chris Bartels | chris@anthemfallsmusic.com