Forgiving Season

Elijah Wolf thought his second album might be his last. “The thought of moving on from music was terrifying, but so was the thought of staying,” he says. After an international headline tour for the critically-lauded Brighter Lighting, adrenaline and momentum vaporised once he landed back in New York, where Wolf faced the punishing realities of the music industry. He tumbled into an isolating period of self-doubt compounded by a series of professional losses. “I had a few major blows to my music project that left me feeling so vulnerable and let down. As a creator, I felt really used and strung along. I put this pressure on myself to create something bigger and better. I tried so hard to write music, but the moment it was forced, nothing came out. I felt such intense emptiness. The idea of making another record became a task I felt was too overwhelming,” Wolf says. Feeling numb and directionless, he grasped at fragments of lyrics and melodies. “As winter became spring, I finally began demoing out some of the musical ideas I had pieced together throughout the year. It was an intense process, facing rejection and anxiety, but one that I felt needed to be completed,” he says. He knew just where to turn for guidance. “I called up Sam Cohen, a dear friend who produced Brighter Lighting. He had created such a safe space for me while recording our last record that I knew he would be able to help me navigate this moment. He was so open, and he invited me to come to the studio to begin piecing these ideas and songs together to create something new. In that moment, I felt like I needed to see this through. This would be a chance to dig deep into myself and figure out what had been going on with me during this dark chapter in my life,” he explains. “At Sam’s direction, we made a decision to take a leap and not recreate anything I had done already. We wanted to get away from the folk-rock band sound of traditional instruments in a room together. We decided to start each song by experimenting with synthesisers, samples, and cool effects. We looked for new song arrangements and structures,” he says. Forgiving Season was emotionally taxing and a real challenge,” he says. Stretching in new directions both musically and emotionally has resulted in Elijah Wolf as he’s never been heard before, a transcendent collection both refreshing and comforting, evoking natural elements from this planet and beyond. Floating along through Forgiving Season feels like ice melting, verdant flickers in a grey vista offering a promise of what’s to come.