Elysian Fields

Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow are the writers who make up the critically-acclaimed band that formed in New York in 1995 and went on to develop a cult following of faithful fans around the world. They started on a major label but would soon be working outside of the mainstream, early on recording with Steve Albini and then going on to produce themselves for a number of independent labels over the years, including Jet Set, PIAS, and Naive — most recently recording for Vicious Circle and Microcultures in France and Ojet/Diluvian in the US.

Jennifer and Oren are also known for their work outside of Elysian Fields, recording two albums of Sephardic diaspora music on John Zorn’s Tzadik label under the name La Mar Enfortuna. Jennifer was part of the supergroup Lovage along with Dan the Automator and Mike Patton, and has appeared on countless recordings, including those of French stars Jean-Louis Murat and Wax Tailor, and experimental composers JG Thirlwell and John Zorn. Alongside her music career, Jennifer has also maintained a presence in the theater, with leading roles in numerous Off-Broadway productions over the years — originating a leading role for Du Yun's opera "Angel's Bone," which went on to win the Pultizer Prize for Music in 2017. Oren has served as a secret musical weapon for a host of artists, including Angus & Julia Stone, James Chance, Rufus Wainwright, Meshell Ndegeocello, Marina Abramović, and Anohni. He was the bassist for John Lurie's legendary Lounge Lizards, and guitarist for the Original Broadway production of Fela! in 2010. Jennifer and Oren have also composed original scores for dance and theater pieces, and their music has appeared in television, film, and commercials around the world. Elysian Fields regularly tours in Europe, where their most loyal following can be found in France. They are "musicians’ musicians," attracting esteemed players from around the world to play on their records and sit in with their live sets. In 2015, the band opened a music venue in Brooklyn called The Owl Music Parlor, and in 2016 released their most recent album, Ghosts of No.

Elysian Fields are set to release their 11th record, a full-length called Pink Air, on September 21, 2018 in the US. You can pre-order it on LP/CD/CS or digital in the shop.

“There is no beginning and no end. I am addressing everyone and telling them that they’re divine! There is radiance in every living thing.” – Jennifer Charles

Ghosts of No is the 10th record Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow have made as Elysian Fields, crafting music of long drives and global paradoxes, human foibles, magic and nature, pagans and skunks, butterflies and spiders. Timeless balladry infused with folk and jazz wrestles with the fate of mankind and the traumas of its childhood.

Ghosts of No unfolds the private mythology of the band, the point at which they wrote the song named after themselves, "Elysian Fields," and explored being and unbeing through Hildegard von Bingen’s eternal visions in "Shadow Of The Living Light." Jennifer leads around rosy paths and into dark rooms with the animals and the ghosts, romancing the listener out of body in “Higher Power” and then back in again with "The Magician."

Returning mixer and long time David Bowie collaborator Mark Plati adds his audio magic, and drummers Chris Vatalaro (Brian Eno) and Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, St. Vincent) remain at the heart of the band's sound, along with mainstays James Genus, Ben Perowsky and Ed Pastorini.