• Spotify: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-spotify
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Tu1rx5KIs&t=138s
• Bandcamp: https://www.elskavon.bandcamp.com

My 4th album is out January 26, 2018.
https://elskavon.com

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com

Small Hands

Itasca

Vermilion

Stream/download the album: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-reveal

Written and produced by Chris Bartels. 

Drums by Bjorn Nilsen.

Cover photo by Anton Novoselov. 
________________ 

Released by Anthem Falls Music. 

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com 

anthemfallsmusic.com/elskavon

Imprints

Stream/download the album: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-reveal

Written and produced by Chris Bartels.

All instruments played by Chris Bartels.

Cover photo by Anton Novoselov. 
________________

Released by Anthem Falls Music.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com

anthemfallsmusic.com/elskavon

Anda

Stream/download the album: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-reveal

Written and produced by Chris Bartels.

Drums by Bjorn Nilsen.  All other instruments played by Chris Bartels.

Cover photo by Anton Novoselov. 
________________

Released by Anthem Falls Music.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com

www.elskavon.com

Letting Go

Wishes

April Rain

Panoramas

How Cold

No Longer Bound

Owlens

Blossom and the Void / North Sole (Fragments)

Blossom and the Void (Fragments)

Fragments EP, Vol. 1

Origins (Fragments)

Coastline (Fragments)

Dreymir Aftur / All These Years (Fragments)

Dreymir Aftur (Fragments)

All These Years (Fragments)

Origins Fragments

Vivid (Fragments)

This Won't Last Forever (Fragments)

See Out Loud (Fragments)

Heeding Light

Mannequin

• Download/Stream the album Skylight: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-skylight
Vinyl is now available.

The first taste of a 4th Elskavon album. This one goes a bit deeper, and sometimes a bit darker. Each song is inspired by a particular memorable moment or era in my life.

Some are small, like one cool summer night riding bikes home with my best friend and fireworks going off in the distance. Some are big, like the birth of my children. I really believe memorable moments that we relive over and again are so incredibly valuable, and important reminders to not miss the potential memories in the making now - these are gifts we can never fully get back, so LIVING these moments is key.
credits
released September 8, 2017

Written by Chris Bartels.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com

anthemfallsmusic.com/elskavon

Syna

Anthos

• Download/Stream the album Skylight: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-skylight
Vinyl is now available.

The first taste of a 4th Elskavon album. This one goes a bit deeper, and sometimes a bit darker. Each song is inspired by a particular memorable moment or era in my life.

Some are small, like one cool summer night riding bikes home with my best friend and fireworks going off in the distance. Some are big, like the birth of my children. I really believe memorable moments that we relive over and again are so incredibly valuable, and important reminders to not miss the potential memories in the making now - these are gifts we can never fully get back, so LIVING these moments is key.
credits
released September 8, 2017

Written by Chris Bartels.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com

www.elskavon.com

• Stream/download: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-dusk-line
• Dusk Line Hills is the second release leading up to Skylight, Elskavon's 4th LP.
• Stationary Travels blog premiere: https://stationarytravels.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/premiere-dusk-line-hills-by-elskavon/

This album goes a bit deeper, and sometimes a bit darker. Each song is inspired by a particular memorable moment or era in my life.

Some are small, like one cool summer night riding bikes home with my best friend and fireworks going off in the distance. Some are big, like the birth of my children. I really believe memorable moments that we relive over and again are so incredibly valuable, and important reminders to not miss the potential memories in the making now - these are gifts we can never fully get back, so LIVING these moments is key.

Released November 15, 2017.

Written by Chris Bartels.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com
www.elskavon.com

Skylight

Dusk Line Hills

I had dinner with my filmmaker friend Ryan, when he told me he was going to Iceland. I asked if he would let me use some of his footage. It was a perfect fit to work with footage from Iceland - Elskavon was named with two combined Iceland words (Elska meaning "love" and von meaning "hope"), which was a tip of the hat to Sigur Ros, my main influence when first starting to write ambient music. I even title one song from every album in Icelandic.

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2eJ62b...
• Bandcamp: https://elskavon.bandcamp.com/track/o...
• Website: https://elskavon.com
• Newsletter: http://hyperurl.co/afm-email

Video filmed by Ryan Gates:  http://movingedgemedia.com

● ● ●

SOCIAL
• http://facebook.com/elskavon
• http://twitter.com/elskavon
• http://instagram.com/chris_bartels
• http://instagram.com/elskavon

• Ambient playlist I'm curating: http://smarturl.it/dreamingdriving

● ● ●

CONTACT
chris@anthemfallsmusic.com
http://anthemfallsmusic.com

Offers of Peace

• Stream/download new album: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-skylight
• Soundcloud playlist: https://soundcloud.com/elskavon/sets/skylight-album-preview

This album goes a bit deeper, and sometimes a bit darker. Each song is inspired by a particular memorable moment or era in my life.

Some are small, like one cool summer night riding bikes home with my best friend and fireworks going off in the distance. Some are big, like the birth of my children. I really believe memorable moments that we relive over and again are so incredibly valuable, and important reminders to not miss the potential memories in the making now - these are gifts we can never fully get back, so LIVING these moments is key.

Written by Chris Bartels.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com
www.elskavon.com

• Stream/Download: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-imagination
• Imagination is the third release leading up to Skylight, Elskavon's 4th LP.

My best friend and I grew up doing everything together - sports, video games, music, we worked together for years, and we biked all over the city for hours on end. One of our favorite spots was a nearby woods area. Even though we were right in the middle of the Twin Cities, this spot felt like it was so far from civilization - there were trees, swamps, wildlife, and dirt paths.

Technology is great, and I love being busy and living in a big city, but there’s just nothing like the calm, quiet escape of nature. I also think ambient music and nature go hand in hand - they are family.

I titled this song “Imagination” after a blog post I wrote nearly a decade ago, with the same title.  Thinking of those times biking in the woods, exploring, free of worry and responsibility, I wrote out my thoughts on how we grow up with these cultural expectations to simply survive, go through the motions, and to just pay the bills. So often we’re pressured to leave behind that imagination we have as children, to shed the wonder.

Music is my humble attempt to go against the grain as much as I can, and to feed that imagination well into adulthood.

Life is too short to shed the wonder.

Released January 3, 2018.

Written by Chris Bartels.

For licensing, publicity, and booking inquiries, email chris@anthemfallsmusic.com

www.elskavon.com

Imagination

Stream / download --> http://smarturl.it/elskavon-spring
New LP Skylight --> http://smarturl.it/elskavon-skylight
www.elskavon.com

INSPIRATION:

Can I give you a quick glimpse into the whirlwind mind of an independent musician?

It’s all about seasons. Last summer and into the fall, I was furiously writing a new Elskavon album, not to mention new Bora York songs with my wife, and Hi-Fi Cali collaborations and singles… For every album I release, which is typically around 9-10 songs, I end up with sometimes more than 50 demos and half-written songs. So there was a lot of writing happening. The ideas kept coming and the inspiration was heavy.

In September, I decided to set a release date for the new album, Skylight - this gives myself a deadline to actually call things done, and to get prepped for a release. From late fall on, leading up to that date (January 26), I was finishing songs, mixing and mastering the audio, working on artwork, studio and promo videos, show prep, social media content, reaching out for press and playlist possibilities, and more. There’s a lot of things on the independent release checklist.

In the midst of all this, I was about to step into a part-time freelance role, something my wife and I had been preparing for about a year. We’re very hopeful and excited about this season of our journey, which just started a few weeks ago. 

There has been a lot of things happening, and I’m grateful every step of the way. But I’m human and I get burnt out, as well. Last week it was tough to find any sort of inspiration whatsoever. And there was a definite setback regarding the new album - something I had been getting used to slipped away. It’s part of the process, and something I was fully aware could be a possibility. But it was still a bit of a punch in the gut.

Read the rest at http://anthemfallsmusic.com/blog/2018/3/28/elskavon-spring-piano-day-2018

Spring (Piano Day 2018)

Introducing "Traditions & Traitors."
smarturl.it/elskavon-traditions

A few weeks ago, I sat down at the piano with the intention of simply... writing. Running my own business with all sorts of music projects, there's a lot more that happens than just creating. There's emails, files, networking, spreadsheets, research, social media, repairs, practice, finances, on and on... and don't get me wrong - I genuinely enjoy it all, or at least learning and developing different skills. But sometimes the ROOT of what I do and the goals I'm pursuing get lost, and I forget to sit down... and create.

On that day that I sat down at the piano, I ended up writing and recording four songs. I started and finished the entire project in one long sitting. I went back to the root. It was refreshing, and restorative.

This is 'Traditions & Traitors.'

I hope it can be special to you, as well, as you navigate life and its busy seasons. I hope you can sit down for a few minutes and just.... be.

www.elskavon.com
www.twitter.com/elskavon
www.facebook.com/elskavon
www.instagram.com/chris_bartels
www.instagram.com/elskavon

Fair Fading

Quiet Assumptions

Soft Night

Shivers. Awake. These are real emotions. Gala Dust.
Stream/download: http://smarturl.it/elskavon-galadust

Released on Piano Day 2019 - March 29th. @nilsfrahm
Featured on the Sonder House compilation, Recollections Vol. 2

www.elskavon.com
www.twitter.com/elskavon
www.facebook.com/elskavon
www.instagram.com/chris_bartels
www.instagram.com/elskavon

Gala Dust (Piano Day 2019)

Stream / Download: https://smarturl.it/elskavon-nerves

Nerves / Familiarity is the first official start to Elskavon’s next album era, and it’s a representation not only of composer Chris Bartels’ sound over the years, but also a metaphorical look inside his mind. That is, one of contrast.

With Elskavon’s sound, there’s always been a contrast, and marriage, of grandeur and intimacy. Nerves / Familiarity is no exception.

While it starts out quiet, the listener can immediately feel the enormity of Nerves. The sustained sound is that of Bartels slowly drawing a string of yarn across his old spinet piano’s strings. Only a minute and half in, the sound is thick and full, layered with falsetto vocals fed through modular synthesizers. It hasn’t taken long to be engulfed in the grandeur. 

However, as quickly as it arrives, there’s a departure. An intimate and rhythmic cassette texture, signaled by a slow tonic modulation, foreshadows a look at the second track - the contrast.

Familiarity begins with a bed of introspective notes and textures - mostly that of high piano notes and chopped up Rhodes improvisations. There’s a certain closeness with this sound, and a contrast to the large reverb-soaked fabric that leads Nerves. Then halfway through the song, there is a short build - an encore, if you will, to the grandeur of the first track.

Much like these songs and past Elskavon albums, there is a journey of contrasts with every creative turn for Bartels, finding himself deep in a whirlwind of excitement and fear, anticipation and anxiety, inspiration and frustration. And while being fully aware of the negative sides of that whirlwind, there’s an indescribable beauty and hope in the choice to keep writing, to keep moving. And to not simply run from the negatives, but to allow them to inspire, to motivate.

A creative journey should never be easy or comfortable. If it is, the other side will most certainly be lacking in the beauty and depth it so desires.

With this next album era, Bartels is choosing to embrace the contrast.

www.elskavon.com
www.twitter.com/elskavon
www.facebook.com/elskavon
www.instagram.com/chris_bartels
www.instagram.com/elskavon

Stream/Buy

Familiarity

Nerves

Movements In Season now available at www.elskavon.bandcamp.com

Perhaps to its perennial advantage, the ambient instrumental project Elskavon was not born on any specific date, but rather organically as an aspiration of Minneapolis native Chris Bartels sometime as early as 2007. Over the course of five years, Elskavon was most often a low priority, albeit never forgotten.

Intertwined with, and most assuredley inspired by, the many seasons of life he experienced - separate musical ventures, school, traveling, getting married - Chris composed and recorded a fairly ample collection of Elskavon songs over these five years. Created in his bedroom on late nights, these songs were often an escape from the steady quarrel of life. They, in turn, would be only demos, but planted the seeds for a future album.

It was not until the early fall of 2012 that Elskavon finally became a real priority. Rather than attempt to resurrect and refine aged and scattered material, Chris started from scratch, writing and recording a full length album in the matter of a few weeks. It was a passionate pursuit to invoke that feeling of peaceful escape that drove the inception of Elskavon’s debut Movements In Season.

The album fuses acoustic instruments with electronic elements to create a bond of sonic landscapes and formed songwriting. Chris recorded piano, acoustic and electric guitar layers, samplers, synthesizers, and more. He also experimented with implementing everday items and utilities, such as a pack of batteries, a bag of rice, or the sound of a running sink. Mixing all this with careful yet aggressive use of dynamics, delays, and filters, Movements In Season fashions a sensation of peaceful intensity.

It was Chris’ interest for classical pieces with captivating twists of modernism and minimalism that kept the project of Elskavon alive over the years, and a love for soaking sonic ambience that most intently drove the creation and conclusion of the album. The hope was that Movements In Season would drench the listener in wonderment, peace, and occasionally, when everything falls into place just right, a gentle sense of awe.

anthemfallsmusic.com/elskavon

Connect:

twitter.com/elskavon
facebook.com/elskavon
instagram.com/chris_bartels

Absent Regrets

The clouds are never too far away...

'River (Blue)' is the 1st offering from my upcoming EP, Patience (Bloom), arriving 07/29.

☾ https://memoir.ffm.to/riverblue.otw

On this track, I used lots of recordings captured in Duluth last year - my friend went up to the area for a day and recorded all sorts of percussive sounds and textures - rocks, water, wood, metal, leaves - anything we could find.

River (Blue)

Patience (Bloom) is Elskavon’s new four song EP. As the title(s) suggest, this is a patient and calming and blossoming project, sprouting from the earth with warmth and vibration. An ambient offering to help ease your mind.
https://memoir.ffm.to/patiencebloom

Manner (Forms)

• 'Origins' out now on @western_vinyl: https://lnk.to/elskavon-origins
• 'Origins Remixes' feat. Hammock, Goldmund, and more: https://lnk.to/originsremixes

• Email List: http://eepurl.com/dyYeVj

• Ambient playlist I'm curating: http://smarturl.it/dreamingdriving

Here are my other music projects:
• @borayork
• @anthemfallsmusic
• @chrisbartels

CONTACT
chris@anthemfallsmusic.com
http://anthemfallsmusic.com

Popular tracks by elskavon