Short Reviews [Elleven - 2015 - "Transfiction"]

Elleven were formed in 2001 by ex-Chandelier bandmates Tom Jarzina (drums) and Stephan Scholz (bass) along with singer Julia Graff. I remember hearing Chandelier on an SI sampler some 30 years ago with “Itai”, which came from their second album, ‘Facing Gravity’. They invited Armin Riemer (keyboards, piano, organ, synthesizers) and Carsten Hutter (guitars) to complete the line-up, and in 2007 released their debut album, ‘Insight’. Both Jarzina and Scholz left the band before their next release, this 2015 album, and were replaced by Herry Rubarth and Roger Weitz respectively. It is interesting to realise the band originally came together to provide a progressive rock platform for Julia’s vocals, as to me she is the weak point in the whole band. Her vocals are deliberately quite frail, and while there are times when she works well, there are plenty of others where she quavers off key. This may be seen as being a positive by some, and I am sure her vocals are something of an acquired taste in that respect, but I can’t get into them at all which is an issue for me, especially when the music is as strong as it is. I can’t help but wonder what this album would be like with a different vocalist, male or female, as Armin is a powerful keyboard player and the rest of the band build around him in a strong Neo manner which is a delight. Musically they can be gentle and reflective or powering and dynamic, and there are some delightful fretless bass moments with this as well. Although their website is still up, it does not appear to have been updated in some years, but their Facebook is still being posted on and I do think the band is still active. However, I cannot see me searching them out again.