Last summer season, the indie pop trio Elephant Kind made an enormous leap: uprooting from their house nation of Indonesia to maneuver to London for his or her music. It’s a transfer that’s the topic of their new documentary, From Indo to England, which NME is internet hosting solely right here together with a chat about their new EP ‘Superblue’ and extra. Check all of it out under.
In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Elephant Kind are a recognized amount: their albums ‘City J’ and ‘The Greatest Ever’ have racked up thousands and thousands of streams and the band have opened for the likes of The xx and Franz Ferdinand. But for the following part of their profession, the band determined to maneuver to London sight unseen.
“We don’t have any history [in London],” frontman Bam Mastro instructed NME. “We’ve never been to London before this. We’re new. We’re just three immigrants walking around the city going ‘yo, listen to our music’.”
Elephant Kind – rounded out by drummer Bayu Adisapoetra and bassist Kevin Septanto – have since began to make ripples of their adopted nation. Billboards and posters aplenty went up in London and Manchester to advertise their new EP ‘Superblue’, which dropped on the finish of March, and at this time (May 4) they’ll play their first headline present in Manchester at 33 Oldham Street – discover tickets right here.
As Elephant Kind slowly carve out a profession in London, taking part in small exhibits and incomes new followers, Bayu stated he finds himself experiencing deja vu – echoes of the band’s experiences after they had been beginning out in 2013.
It wasn’t straightforward for Elephant Kind to surrender their hard-won success in Indonesia to return to sq. one in London. “As an artist where a lot of people have taken a liking to your music, you would want to sustain that,” Bam stated. “And once you lose that, you kind of miss that feeling: when you see someone at the mall, and they come up to you and say ‘I love your music’, and playing for thousands of people and they’re singing along to your lyrics.”
But when a label got here knocking – Mola Records, which Elephant Kind at the moment are signed to – and the alternatives to carry out in London, after which transfer to the town emerged, the band determined to fulfill the problem. Elephant Kind then launched into the monthslong technique of transferring throughout the globe, sorting visas and ensuring i’s had been dotted and t’s crossed (and, for Bam, in between attending his personal wedding ceremony).
“Coming over to London, it’s a whole other different environment,” Bam stated. “And that means we’re starting over, but also we had an adventurous, optimistic mindset – like the enthusiasm of a high school band.” Added Kevin: “It was quite difficult at first, because it’s a total opposite country… But the fact we came here for music, for things that we love, it turns out, it doesn’t really matter. You can cope.”
In the previous few months, Elephant Kind considerably underestimated their followers’ curiosity of their large transfer. “I didn’t think it was really that important for them to know why we moved,” Bam stated. But again in Indonesia Elephant Kind used to gig to the tune of 10 exhibits a month, and followers had gotten used to seeing them of their cities each weekend. As the nation’s stay music scene reopened with a vengeance in 2022, followers began sending Elephant Kind messages asking the place they’d gone.
Enter From Indo to England. “[Fans will] get the answer on why we moved from Jakarta to London,” Bayu declared. “Because we explain everything about the decision.” And for Londoners brand-new to Elephant Kind, the documentary additionally presents an introduction to every of the band’s members and their private journeys into music – with outdated household pictures and even appearances from Bam’s mom and sister.
What Kevin is most excited for followers to see, although, is the complete stay efficiency of ‘Superblue’, filmed in Rak Studios, that’s lower all through the documentary. It’s a heat, simple presentation of the EP that follows decidedly dreamier music movies for the songs ‘Feelings’ and ‘Love As’. Recorded in Jakarta and accomplished in London – with contributions from producer and mixer Sam Petts-Davies, the primary exterior producer that Elephant Kind have ever labored with – ‘Superblue’ is a lockdown document that gives escapist fantasy (‘Rockstar’) and dwells on connection (‘Feelings’) and isolation (‘Lately’).
More importantly, the EP marks the primary time Elephant Kind have labored so collaboratively within the writing and recording of a venture, a shift from when Bam – who began Elephant Kind as a solo venture whereas at uni in Australia – served as principal songwriter. “‘Superblue’ is a jumping [off] point for the three of us writing music together as a band,” Bayu stated. “Now we’re making music together every week.”
“Everyone that’s listened to these new tracks that we’ve been working on, they say that it’s different than what we’ve done before,” Bam stated. “I think it’s something in the air, man. It’s London, you know what I mean? Everyone came here to just do music and be inspired.”
Elephant Kind’s new artistic course of is why, regardless of doing an interview ostensibly about their newest EP, the band can’t assist however look forward to the music they’re engaged on for his or her upcoming album – which you’ll hear if you happen to catch them in Manchester tonight or in London subsequent week, opening for Ziyad Al-Samman.
“We’ve been playing shows and we haven’t been playing any of our old songs,” Bam stated. “It feels like we’re in a new band,” added Bayu. “Like, we’re not Elephant Kind. Maybe Elephant Kind 2.0.”
Watch Elephant Kind’s new documentary From Indo to England above. The band play 33 Oldham Street in Manchester tonight (May 4) and so they help Ziyad Al-Samman on the Lexington in London subsequent week (May 11).