When I first started ELOAĦ, it was simply an attempt to give form to the emotions that words alone could not express. Over the years, what began as a personal exploration has transformed into something much greater - a collaboration of souls, each bringing their own light, shaping melodies that flow like ripples in the vast ocean of existence. Music, after all, is not merely sound but a reflection of the vibrations that pulse through all things; a cosmic resonance we are fortunate enough to tap into.

An Album Born from Reflection and Connection

Like the stars that burn and fade, leaving their echoes in the universe, The Book of Pain was shaped by the struggles, losses and moments of resilience that define the human experience. Each track is a story, a fragment of the vast journey we all undertake. Each song is a chapter in this metaphorical ‘book’. It’s about how pain transforms us and how, even in our darkest hours, we carry within us the light to rise again. One of the most personal tracks, “A Spark of Darkness”, was inspired by the loss of my dear friend, Michael Görig. The song, named after his unfinished novel, is a reflection on the tension between despair and renewal. Another key piece, “We Shall Rise”, embodies the cyclical nature of existence - falling, rising and continuing the journey, carried by unseen currents of hope.

The Collective Energy Behind the Music

Unlike our earlier works, which leaned more into jazz-inspired improvisation (The Mondstein Chronicles) and pop ballads (Proud to Love You), The Book of Pain embodies a denser, layered approach, a result of the synergy between those who brought it to life. The presence of Orion Roos (guitar), Peter Douwenga (bass), Lila Herderberg (vocals), Dominik Mittergradnegger (saxophone) and Johan van der Meer (drums) has always been invaluable, but this time, other voices became part of the journey as well. Zarja Medved (viola) infused the music with textures that expanded its reach beyond any single genre, weaving new dimensions into the soundscape.

The recording process itself became a kind of meditation, a conversation between past and present. Some of the vocal recordings stretch across decades, entwining memories with fresh creative impulses. One particularly moving moment was the inclusion of my late friend Jörg Horner’s voice on “Golden Summer (Girl to Adore)”. It was humbling to blend his voice into this work, a reminder that music is timeless; an energy that persists even when those who helped create it have moved on.

Looking to the Infinite Horizons of 2025

With The Book of Pain now released as a limited-edition LP, we turn our gaze toward new sonic explorations. Our next project takes a different path, embracing gospel-, electronic- and jazz-inspired elements - an experiment in spirituality and improvisation that seeks to capture the ebb and flow of life’s mysteries. With this new endeavour, we strive to challenge ourselves while staying true to the soul of our music.

Music is meant to be a shared experience, and I have found new inspiration through regular rehearsals of classical music with Zarja. These sessions reinforce my belief that creating and listening to music together deepens its emotional impact and enriches its meaning.

For their last three albums, The Devil Doves geared up for their releases with two singles. One, a delicate songwriter driven track. The other, more along the lines of their “clusterfolk” sound. A devil and a dove, if you will.

Their latest album, Parlor Tricks, is no exception.

“Banquet” is their devil; a Tim Burton-style track that is equal parts lively and unusual. Their dove, “Seventeen Streets”, is an ode to letting go of anything that is worth setting free. The eight tracks in between are carefully curated to provide a listening experience that resembles the traditional track listing of mixtapes: a strong start, followed by a cool-off period before bringing in an introspective b-side and ending with the song they’re most excited about.

While there is no narrative to tell in this batch of songs, there was a life event that inspired many of its lyrics. Songwriter and lead vocalist Junior Kauffman was to receive open heart surgery at the end of 2024, and he found himself expressing those thoughts and worries through writing. They took several of those songs along with the ones filled with pop culture references and turned it into Parlor Tricks.

Kauffman may be the primary songwriter but he gives all the credit to his bandmates for taking his ideas and making them a final version that everyone can be proud of. Bassist Eric Nassau has a deep understanding of song structure. Keyboardist Jeff Straw creates sonic landscapes to compliment the lyrics. Percussionist Kyle Davis brings a sound uniquely his own to the trejon. They may not relate to the story behind “Bandages”, with straightforward lyrics about how much it sucks to need open heart surgery, but the ukulele-driven song is just as much theirs.

“We’ve been together 13 years,” Kauffman said. “I think it’s hard to keep a band together. I’m just proud of that and that we still all like each other. When you have that shorthand, it makes everything go quicker. It’s rare to have everyone agree on that, but we do. We all have the same vision.”

Part of the reason why the 10 tracks from Parlor Tricks have horns or ukuleles or other lesser used instruments is that they continue to push one another to try something new. These songs may have been played once or a dozen times at a live show, and sometimes seeking a new way to play them to an audience gave them the opportunity to incorporate that into the recorded version.

“We are excited in a way that we’ve never been about a collection of songs,” Kauffman said. “The way they came through, it just seemed to work. We’re not patting ourselves on the back but we’ve been at it a while and I think we’ve figured out what we do best.”

They refer to themselves as odd or strange when it comes to their music, but The Devil Doves know how to push themselves creatively and bring forth a sound that is unparalleled. They can take the good and the bad and give it a beat that is difficult to not enjoy.

“That goes back to when I came up with The Devil Doves in the first place,” Kauffman said. “We all got the light, we all got the dark; the yin and the yang and all of that business. I do really feel that there is something to that.”

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

It was a cool damp night, April 17. The year was 2014 and the western world was enjoying one of its last foreseeable halcyon periods. The air smelled of fresh spring rain as the Nashville streets of Lower Broadway buzzed with pedestrians. The sounds of classic rock sing-alongs escaped from the sides of the historic brick buildings and honkytonks echoing up the hill as we marched toward our destination: Bridgestone Arena, to see the one and only Bruce Springsteen.

The lights dim as the E Street Band takes the stage. But, there is an unusual character amongst them: Rage Against The Machine’s resident riffer, Tom Morello. A name certain to evoke strong emotions, such as the tried and true, “he should keep politics out of it” or “he just makes noises on the guitar!” However, even his detractors have to admit that Morello has been one of the most innovative guitarists since Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads. As he wandered on stage that night, I couldn’t help but think, ‘this ought to be interesting.’

Indeed, interesting it was. Now I must confess once upon a time in my youth, as my folks ran through classics like “Born to Run” or “Thunder Road”, I didn’t immediately understand it.

“But he didn’t sing higher or play heavier like Sabbath or Zeppelin," I’d offered.

It wasn’t until Nashville, the city where songwriting is an official sport, where I finally ‘got it’. The words, the stories, the images; left to the imagination, it’s as if there’s a movie unfolding in front of you narrated by the song.

That warm spring night, the legends ripped through classics like “Badlands”, “Hungry Heart” and “I’m on Fire”… But there was one unexpected moment, nearly 18 songs in, that swept the entire arena off their feet: “The Ghost of Tom Joad”.

I wasn’t surprised to see Morello singing as he’d covered “The Ghost of Tom Joad” with The Nightwatchman before Springsteen heard it and invited him to record a new version together. The reason it was unexpected was because this was not a particularly well-known Springsteen track. It was never played during political rallies, football games or dances. Instead, “The Ghost of Tom Joad” was released at the height of the grunge era, and somehow with its laid-back feel and unpolished honesty, wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York.

As they started the song with the lights nearly blacked out, I could tell it was going to be a particularly powerful version. As their voices traded back and forth, the tension in the room was palpable. Finally, as Morello leaned away from the mic, with his guitar flying through the air, a screaming solo soars through the arena like a siren. Morello forcefully rips the chord out of his guitar, quickly smashing it against his hand in rhythm with the E Street Band, manipulating the pitch with his trusty Whammy pedal. At this point, and for the frst time in my life, tears began to roll down my face. I was taken aback by what was happening. I had literally never heard sounds like this in my life. I had even seen Morello play this very same room before with Prophets of Rage.

That night was different though. Morello didn’t play any other solos during the nearly three hour set. He didn’t take center stage. This was his one chance. His one moment. It was all or nothing. And as he tore through his blue Arm the Homeless guitar, strings flailing with facial expressions of pure agony, I knew I had just witnessed history. As I wiped those tears away, I felt the bittersweet sting that music really can change your life.

Areli Castro knew exactly what story she wanted to tell in her debut KiNG MALA album after a lengthy meeting with her producer. The cinematic world she wanted to create needed to be the most experimental she’s ever gone, so hours were spent carving out every single moment of the story. Every beat needed to be accounted for.

The first question her producer asked her was, “What are you interrogating?” She decided to lay it all out right there.

“I told him that I felt like my humanity was getting in the way of my greatness,” she said. “I wanted this story to be a conversation about that; about the difference between humanity and greatness and what is so contradictory about them. I also knew I wanted it to be very horror inspired because that’s my love, my light. We talked for a long time and I realized it’s a possession story. This is a story of an entity of power itself taking a body, and thus the story was born.”

Despite building a narrative, the songs would end up being deeply personal. It was important that everyone involved have a vast understanding of how the story needed to be told, so she created a crime drama-style mood board that laid out the project in its entirety: plot, inspiration and all the conversations leading up to recording. The mood board was brought out for every new writing session, and new players were introduced to it before writing and recording began. They called it, “The Spiel”.

Beginning each session with the mood board and “The Spiel” helped keep the vision clear and focused, and brought out the best in this team of writers, producers, string players, choir singers, instrumentalists and brass players. They had the entire story laid out in front of them, they just had to create songs that fit each step of the hero’s journey.

“Everyone was so excited to be a part of it,” she said. “Seeing some of this beautiful community come together around this freaky little story was so incredible.”

By choosing this writing method, Castro learned that she thrives creatively when she has the opportunity to take her time to build a world around her music. She went into every session knowing that she was building on the day before instead of starting over every time. It felt freeing and inspiring. The end result was 12 songs and one poem that inspired the title: And You Who Drowned In The Grief Of A Golden Thing.

“I felt like it was a story of the grief that you experience through your desire,” she said. “Your desire for greatness leaves you consistently disappointed, just because there’s always this higher expectation of you. There’s a lot of grief in knowing that you’ll never reach this higher point, this golden thing. You don’t have a name for it, this perfect version of yourself.”

In the first stanza of the poem, she wrote:

you who drowned in all that grief

you pray for more

a golden thing

She realized it was the entity, speaking to the protagonist. The album was a dive into desire vs. obsession, humanity vs. monstrousness - and the consequences of all four.

Prior to the album’s release, there were three songs she knew would best encapsulate the album. First, “GØD”, a bridge between past and future sound; second, “FUN!”, a taste of the vibe of the album; and third, “DEVOTION”, a nod to the R&B artists that made a mark on the start of her musical career.

It was important that this highly conceptual album have stunning visual components to go alongside the songs. Every visual element was explained to the creative director, Marly Hall, who took references from Castro’s beloved horror genre and brought them to life through 24 different setups filmed in roughly two weeks.

Photo courtesy of Shervin Lainez

Dali Rose grew up in a uniquely musical household, but there is one story in particular that seemed to solidify his desire to pursue a career in music. When his mother was pregnant, his father would strategically place a pair of headphones over her stomach to play his favorite song, “Mother Beautiful” by Sly and the Family Stone. They were a major inspiration for his own musical career, and it appears to have done the same for his son.

In addition to Sly, artists such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and Jazmine Sullivan were constantly heard inside their home. Rose grew up in a religious household, and music from the church was equally as prevalent. He also said that his mother is one of the best singers he’s ever heard.

Soul music was his first love, but soon enough Rose was finding his way into different genres. He found heroic qualities in rappers, discovered a love for the storytelling aspects of folk music and picked apart the chord structures of legendary guitarists.

Despite that love, he initially studied Political Science at NYU. He was determined to make a change in this world, yet the farther along he got in his degree the more he realized there is more than one way to make an impact. He switched his degree to Music.

“At a certain point you just lose hope with the system and everything around you,” he said. “It was important for me to realize that true change for me was going to come through my words; through my impact on culture, through my impact on people and their psychological state. Just getting them through the moment; giving them a good experience, telling them a good story. Those things may seem corny to some people, but for me, that’s been literally the thing that’s saved my life.”

He remains a political activist at heart, but repurposed his interest to keep himself from feeling helpless. Music has always been something that came naturally to him, and the more he studied, the more he realized that those two weren’t so different.

He found a moniker that felt and sounded as cool as he wanted his music to be. He narrowed down a style of music that suited his voice best. He studied his craft. Comparing it to learning any new skill, Rose said that it was definitely a maturation process to understand the importance of music and those who came before him.

“You have to dive into who’s done it the best before learning the history of it,” he said. “Learning how the theory works, how the chord structures work, how the song structure works, which ones work for me. Learn how to play, then learn how to play and sing at the same time. It took years of doing it every day over and over again, studying and trying things. I can give you a sexier answer than that but that’s exactly what it was. I had so much fun along the way and still do. I love learning. I love learning to get better and will continue to do so.”

One thing he did learn is that influences can only get a musician so far. There comes a point where the music has to be original, and he was determined to let music come naturally to him. During his last semester at NYU, he decided to push his boundaries and take a creative writing class. He had a professor that helped push those boundaries, and the outcome was a 17-page short story about a dystopian society. Set in a world where marginalized communities had been confided behind steel walls, he told the stories of those that lived there. One of those communities was named Heaven, and soon enough it was the perfect title for an EP.

Seven songs later, Heaven is equal parts timely and timeless. He wanted to tell stories that were relevant to today and represented a generation of people “lost in the sauce of it all.” He also wanted to make sure they were stories that he wanted to tell.

In the midst of recording, he felt like he was on top of the world. Every song gave him an ego boost, but brought him back down to Earth during mixing and mastering.

“At the end of the day, I try to stay true to where I was when I wrote them,” he said. “I know that they came from a beautiful, genuine place. When it’s coming from that place you just have to put it out and let it be. It can get two streams, it can get two billion. It’s art. I feel good about that but that was the most challenging part for me too, learning to just accept myself and love myself and let myself create and be ok with that and move onto the next thing.”

About a month ago, Rose played a show where he performed “Mother Beautiful” with his girlfriend. It is a song that has literally been with him his entire life. It represents his love for music and his love for his family, and all those parts of his life that feel like Heaven.

Photo courtesy of Ariel Kassulke

Pairing vintage black-and-white illustrations of birds with curse words seems a bit unconventional, which could be why it came as a shock to Effin’ Birds creator Aaron Reynolds that it quickly found popularity on social media. It went from rectangular text posts to coffee mugs, t-shirts and even a book.

When he first received his book deal for Effin' Birds: A Field Guide to Identification, he knew he wanted to promote its release but the publisher did not have the means to finance a tour. Reynolds also could not finance a tour to various bookstores around the country, so he found the next best thing: comic conventions. He started reaching out to shows, with his first appearance at the comic convention in his hometown of Ottawa.

Despite Reynolds having an interest in everything that is displayed at comic conventions, and eventually becoming one of its featured artists, it wasn’t until his children were just old enough to attend that they all experienced their first convention together. That year, Ottawa Comic Con saw three distinct, homemade children’s cosplays: Godzilla; Man with No Name from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; and a fully original robot character named Nolan Bot. Pizza boxes, spray paint and one shopping visit to Value Village was all they needed to win costume contests and impress Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang.

His youngest son, who created the original robot character, also created the Effin’ Birds “Eat Farts” comic that can be found on t-shirts, skateboards and stickers. A magnificent eagle flying away was requested as the accompanying cartoon, and Reynolds liked the idea so much that the sticker version is his go-to freebie to hand out to convention goers.

Purchasable items at his table include copies of Effin' Birds: A Field Guide to Identification as well as trading cards, calendars and more. His most memorable interaction with a convention goer involved a Silent Hill Pyramid Head cosplay where the entire sales interaction involved hand gestures and the pyramid opening to reveal their payment method.

“They handed me down money and I handed them a book,” he laughed. “They put it all the way back up inside the pyramid, closed the pyramid and lumbered away. It was so magical.”

Superstars come and go. Cher is forever.

When Tony nominee Rick Elice took on the role of writing the jukebox musical The Cher Show, he admitted to Playbill that he was not a Cher fanatic, which in turn won Cher over. He tells the story of Cher’s life and career using three performers: Babe, who portrays Cher during the 1950s and 1960s; Lady, during the 1970s; and Star, during the 1980s and 1990s. They interact with one another, sharing life advice and emotions during pivotal moments.

“I only wish it would have really happened," Cher joked to People. “I could have saved a whole lot of painful shit, okay? I wish that they would have been there and someone who could say, 'You can leave him!'"

With the Cher stamp of approval, the cast and creative team - including fashion designer Bob Mackie - got to work on six decades of pure stardom. The Cher Show made its world premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago before moving to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre, as well as multiple U.S. and U.K. tours.

In its most recent run, a stop at Milwaukee’s Marcus Performing Arts Center brought all ages together for a night of pure glamour. Uihlein Hall sparkled as an array of sequined costumes made its way across the stage, highlighting the three Chers: Ella Perez, Catharine Ariale and Kristin Rose Kelleher. Their vocal performances were powerful, taking 35 smash hits and giving them the Broadway treatment by weaving them into Cher’s rise to fame.

The ensemble was just as powerful with their performances. Supporting characters included Sonny Bono, Gregg Allman, Bob Mackie, Lucille Ball and Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt. They brought the stage to life, spotlighting major sets such as The Sonny and Cher Show and Top of the Pops. The attention to detail in their costumes were just as meticulous as the Cher costumes, which were nearly identical to their originals.

Not only did The Cher Show bring tales of love and heartbreak, but it brought an incredible amount of humor. The audience found it easy to laugh along with height jokes aimed at Sonny, cry along with her as she learned of his passing and get on their feet to dance along to the final number.

A show packed with so much Cher it takes three people to play her, The Cher Show pushes boundaries not unlike its main character. It is evident that the cast believes in this production as much as Cher believes in herself, in life after love. Cher truly is forever.

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Larsen

The collection of songs Claire Davis and Leo Son have accumulated over the last few years were begging to be recorded. Alongside their bandmates, Maclin Tucker and Hoyt Parquet, they knew it was time for a new Bermuda Search Party album.

With a small folder of demos and a dream, they sent them out to about 30 producers. Three responded, with one in particular that actually showed interest instead of just replying with a day rate for studio time. They couldn’t believe it - Eric Palmquist, who had recently produced artists such as half•alive, Tate McRae and Bad Suns, genuinely wanted to work with them. Having a background working with artists they admire was a major reason why they hoped to collaborate with him, and it ended up being a very special process.

The band found themselves recording in Los Angeles for the first time, with 21 days to complete the handful of songs they chose. They went from hoping they could finish five songs in that amount of time to having enough to release an album.

“I think it came down to mutual excitement,” Son said. “There were songs that Eric chose where he [loved them] and the band agreed if we had the extra funds and time maybe we can dive into that, but here’s the one we’re really excited about too. Meeting in the middle of, ‘we’re all excited about these songs’ must mean something.”

One of the demos they sent to producers was “End Of The Road”. It was one of the oldest songs in their collection, and was reworked to the point of nearly scrapping it entirely. Palmquist’s ideas brought the song back onto the final track listing after suggesting changes that the band hadn’t thought about previously. It was one of those moments where they knew they made the right decision to step outside of their comfort zone.

Their prior recording process was entirely independent, so to suddenly have a perspective from someone outside of the band was both welcoming and testing. Son said that it was tough to let go of the concept of “this is my idea and this is why it makes it a good idea” because those ideas seem so precious. The more they worked with Palmquist, however, the easier it was to let go and appreciate that mutual respect of wanting to put out the best version of a song. They agree that it was scary to let go in the moment, but they also recognize that sitting on a song until it’s “perfect” may never happen.

“It was challenging to have to make decisions quickly and stick to them because we have these limited resources and time,” Davis said. “I think some cool decisions came from that, but in the moment it definitely was very frustrating artistically.”

More often than not, self-doubt and fear within the music industry can make an artist feel as though they are undeserving of their talent or accomplishments. Whitney Asher recalls a time where she spent the majority of her days at a recording studio with a producer that she really admired. Despite having so much respect for them, it felt as though she was unworthy of being in their presence.

Seven years later, the song she wrote about that feeling was released - on Imposter Syndrome Awareness Day, no less. “Unimpressive” is not just that moment but an amalgamation of moments where talent does not always equal confidence. Channeling insecurity into song is what Asher chose to do in that moment, and with the help of her producer, Corey Pavlosky, “Unimpressive” was written on their third session together.

The irony of it all is that she still very much feels like an imposter. At the time of writing the song, she had left her 9-5 to work full-time in the music industry. At the time of releasing the song, she once again left her 9-5 to pursue music in a similar fashion. She is more confident than she was seven years ago, but it still feels like déjà vu .

“It’s very normal to feel insecure,” she said. “What I love about ‘Unimpressive’ coming out right now is it’s worth talking about. It’s worth drawing attention to the feeling because I think a lot of people don’t realize that that’s a real term and it’s a real feeling and a lot of people have it. It’s almost too honest to come out and say that you feel that way; nobody wants to feel that way, but nobody wants to be found out that they feel that way.”

There is a part of her that is surprised the feelings are still there. She is not convinced it is a feeling that will ever go away, but it definitely has her wondering what she should do about it. Her husband suggested that she make peace with herself, which is an insightful yet difficult concept.

The more she thinks about it, the more she recognizes that imposter syndrome is messy. It’s not linear or widely discussed. There is discomfort, but at the core, worthiness is a lifelong pursuit.

“It’s uncomfortable to feel like you’re not good enough,” she said. “It’s uncomfortable to admit that you don’t think you’re good enough. It’s uncomfortable to admit that you don’t feel worthy. It’s uncomfortable to draw attention to your humanity…I’ve really focused on rounding out my ability to cope with being human.”

She grasps the challenge that is detaching self-worth from how she is received. She derives much of her self-worth from her accomplishments and questions who she is when she isn’t working on a project. Finding peace within one’s self will never be easy, but is never impossible.

“Unimpressive” proves some of the ways that people do not necessarily change. Growth and maturity can change the perception of humanity, but some qualities just have to be accepted. Feeling like an imposter may never go away, but making peace with it is how confidence soars.