Land Of Talk

As Land of Talk, Elizabeth Powell pushes indie rock's boundaries while questioning society's confining expectations. When the project emerged in 2006 with Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, their spiky, raucous songs and Powell's keening, vibrato-laden vocals evoked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but their sound soon grew more nuanced: 2008's Some Are Lakes gave equal time to their music's beauty and its bite. After a lengthy hiatus during which Powell considered quitting music altogether, Land of Talk experienced a creative rebirth with the gently eclectic contemplations of mortality on 2017's Life After Youth and 2020's similarly introspective Indistinct Conversations, both of which featured expansive sounds and clear-eyed, confessional songwriting. With 2023's Performances, Powell continued Land of Talk's reinvention, setting the guitar aside in favor of keyboard-driven explorations of their identity as a non-binary artist. Powell started writing and playing songs at age 14 while growing up in Guelph, Ontario. Later, they played with the Aaron Riches Nuclear Family Band and the Valentines and performed as a solo artist, releasing an album under the name ELE_K* in 2003. While enrolled in Concordia University's jazz program, Powell met bassist Blake Markle and drummer Mark "Bucky" Wheaton. They formed Land of Talk in 2006, taking inspiration from PJ Harvey, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth for the project's sound. By the time they recorded their debut album, April 2006's Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, Tim Kramer had taken over bass duties. More lineup changes followed in 2007, with Kramer and Wheaton leaving Land of Talk, and bassist Chris McCarron and drummer Eric Thibodeau joining. Land of Talk moved to Saddle Creek for its second-full length, 2008's Some Are Lakes, a more eclectic, melodic album produced by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and featuring the Slip's Andrew Barr on drums. Around this time, Powell also became a touring member of Broken Social Scene. Following a tour with that band, McCarron left to play guitar with the Dears. Bassist Joe Yarmush joined soon after, and Land of Talk issued the Fun and Laughter EP in October 2009. While recuperating from a problem with their vocal cords, Powell wrote Land of Talk's third album Cloak and Cipher. Released in August 2010, it featured contributions from members of Stars, Arcade Fire, and the Besnard Lakes. Following Cloak and Cipher's release, Land of Talk went on an extended break provoked by exhaustion, lost demos, and family illness. In April of 2015, Powell played their first show in four years at Orilla, Ontario's Roots North Music Festival. Several Land of Talk shows in 2016 led up to the May 2017 release of Life After Youth, an album inspired by the sounds that aided Powell's father's recovery from a stroke, including ambient, classical, and the tonkori, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. Produced by John Agnello, the album found Wheaton and McCarron returning to the fold, and also counted Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, Sharon Van Etten, and the Besnard Lakes among its contributors. With Land of Talk back in the swing of things, Powell began writing songs for their next album in 2018. In 2019, they appeared on the American Football song "Every Wave to Ever Rise." After an early 2020 tour with Wolf Parade, and the reissue of Powell's 1999 album Belle Époque, Land of Talk returned that July with Indistinct Conversations. An intimate, acoustic-based set, the album was co-produced by the band and recorded in a studio McCarron built in Wheaton's basement. Powell and company expanded on Indistinct Conversations' explorations of complex relationships and childhood trauma with November 2021's Calming Night Partner EP. Land of Talk returned to the studio in mid-2022, with Powell handling production duties and trading guitar for keyboards. The results were October 2023's Performances, a collection of long-gestating expressions of Powell's non-binary identity and rejection of people-pleasing behavior.
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