Biography

Chicago-based chamber pop collective The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir aren’t your typical debauched rock stars reveling in a pastiche of self-destructive clichés. Leading a band that’s shared the stage with both the Arcade Fire and Ira Glass, Spoon and Dave Eggers, it’s clear that lead singer, guitarist, and keyboard player Elia and his scrappy group are comfortable straddling the divide between the debased rock ‘n’ roll world and the high-minded literati. As it turns out, both shoes fit. Not content with merely performing with some of the most notable names in independent music, the band has explored their connections with the literary and theatrical worlds, performing with Eggers, DeRogatis, This American Life’s Glass, author Joe Meno, and Saturday Night Live regular Fred Armisen.

With Welsh-born Elia as the ringleader, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir is a free-spirited collective of musical visionaries who turn out exuberant and rough-hewn chamber pop. Among the talent that performs and/or records with the Choir includes core players like Ellen O’Hayer (the band’s cellist and vocalist who moonlights in Bright Eyes’ touring band,) bassist and recording engineer Mark Yoshizumi, drummer Jay Santana, violin player Ethan Adelsman and Sam Johnson of Mucca Pazza and Head of Femur on trumpet. The extended Scotland Yard family is comprised of a who’s-who of the Chicago underground music community, boasting the likes of Sally Timms, Nora O’Connor and Kelly Hogan, who sing backup on the album, and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley), Matt Priest and Megan O’Conner (Canasta), and Brett Whitacre (Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers).

In a few short years, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir has become one of the Chicago indie music scene’s best-kept secrets, with Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis opining upon "Jennie That Cries," the single from the band’s debut i bet you say that to all the boys, "[is] a beautiful, lulling single, with special emphasis on the gorgeous vocals.” The band's music has served as a backdrop to many television shows, including The OC, What About Brian and the movie Special, and their self-released debut received attention from Time Out NY, Billboard, and Popmatters.