ERIC KAYNE
Renée LoBue and Ray Ketchem of Elk City, performing at The Bowery Ballroom in New York.
The inventive, Montclair-based art-pop band Elk City has released a hypnotic, energized video for its song “Pathaway,” from its seventh album, Undertow. Elk City will also re-release Undertow and the band’s Above the Water album (2022) on limited-edition colored vinyl, Oct. 30, on the Magic Door Label.
“With ‘Pathaway,’ I wanted to explore the feeling of faking it through life’s expectations,” Elk City co-founder and lead vocalist Renée LoBue said. “How we wear certain masks, but underneath there’s always a pull toward something real — something that might offer us the peace and freedom we crave.”
She says her repetition of “you and I” at the end of the song refers to “the deep connection we all seek when we feel the need to break free. Whether it’s finding someone to navigate life with or an entire community that offers a new way of being. The song is about believing in the beauty of shared experiences as we let go of old expectations.”
The video, which has an explosive ending, shows LoBue’s silhouette, dancing in an elegant way, bathed in hues of green, purple and red with shots of New York City as a dreamy backdrop. It was filmed and produced by Elk City co-founder Ray Ketchem at Magic Door studio in Montclair.
LoBue and drummer Ketchem are joined in the band by bassist Richard Baluyut (also of Versus), guitarist Sean Eden (also of Luna) and guitarist Chris Robertson (also of the Psychedelic Furs side project Feed).
Click HERE for NJArts.net’s 2023 feature on the Undertow album.
For more on Elk City, visit linktr.ee/elkcity.
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