Duo ELLEH have flirted with just-before-dawn sadness and even brushed up against joy, but latest song “I Think The World Of You” finds them exploring something far more menacing. The actual lyrical content doesn’t convey this on its own — it’s a reflection on a relationship of some sort now lost, with references to youth captured in now-far-gone photo booths. Yet the music — featuring uneasy bass and enough space to make every detail sink in– coupled with a vocal delivery sometimes tipping over into whispers. The end result is something where ELLEH’s “sad boy disco” turns a bit more intimidating, though the emotion still comes through. Still, when that final stretch comes in and backing vocals sneak in to add extra lift, a familiar brightness creeps in. Listen above.
Update: Some more context via the ELLEH Facebook page:
I lost my dad last year while I was finishing the album. He was perfectly healthy. No one, especially he, did not see that coming.
There was a phrase I could never say to him because I was too proud and too shy. And I am Japanese. We hardly say such things. It’s too heavy.
That is why I thought “I think the world of you” capture perfectly what I wanted to say to pay tribute to my unsung hero.