How would you describe your music in your own words for any person who has never heard it before? Elad: Our music is lyric- and melody- driven with strong hooks, and the blend of organic and electronic instrumentation.
What’s the significance of your band name? E: Beatific is what we all want to be feeling. A beatific smile, liaisoning with the angels.
What are your influences? E: Our music is fluid across genres like French electro, dream pop, and house -and EDM on the remixes- but mostly indie rock and singer songwriter vibes due to the lyrical nature of the music.
What are your inspirations? E: We love and revere the greats of all genres, such as Debussy, Chopin, Funkadelic, Elliott Smith, Justice, Daft Punk, and all our rock star heroes of the '60s through the '90s.
If given the chance, what musician(s) would you like to collaborate with? Rather this is to either write a song or be featured on a track. E: I’d love to collaborate with the guys from Justice. I think we could make some beautiful music together.
What is your new album about? E: Our album, What It’s Like To Be Human, talks about what it means to be human in our modern world. We have stored in our consciousness the aggregate of our past experience of 40,000 years of being human. However, what we have immediate access to have is the right now, and things might be feeling pretty dicey to a person!
What’s something you hope people take away from the new songs? E: I think the takeaway is that the future is unknown, and the past and present might be painful, but if we reach deep down, we can find the reserves that we need to give it a good go, and hopefully enjoy ourselves in the process.
Which songs on the upcoming project were the most fun to write, and which were the most challenging to write?
E: The songs that are most fun to write are always the ones that we collaborate on. Tomas Wischerath’s work on "Computer" is incredible. Ian McArdle on piano on "Whatever I’m Not" is fantastic, and Clement’s work on "Counterattack!" is massive. Shane Watson’s work on "Solipsistic" and Jason Lesser’s work on "Most Of Us"are tremendous. Jeremy Black’s work on "Hana" and "Baby" is unparalleled.
"Hana" was the hardest song to write because I was worried that I was stealing something from somebody culturally. Our culture right now feels extra sensitive about being disrespectful or insensitive to someone else’s experience, so I went through that process and realized that I’m not taking anything from anyone, except for the great sea of mythos.
Do you have any favourites off the album? E: I love all of my children [laughs] but "Computer," "Whatever I’m Not," and "Everybody Wants The Same Thing" stand out for me. "Memories They Can’t Erase" is really cool for me as well.
Do you have any favourite songs to perform live? Could be your own music or even a
cover. Any reason why? E: I love performing "Computer" live, and also "Feed Da Alligator" from our previous EP, because the band is really taking them new places. Same goes for "Strange Visions," I didn’t record it live with a band, and now that we are playing it together, it has an entirely new sense of movement and meaning.
If you could perform a show this very second anywhere in the world, where would it be? Is there any particular venue(s) or city/cities that comes to mind?
E: I would love to perform at the outdoor theatre at Coachella, that has always been a dream for me. Playing in Paris would be fantastic as well.
What do you currently have planned for the remainder of the year? E: We are preparing a new music video for "Computer," and a virtual live set that we will share on our channels. We are rehearsing for local shows. We also have a bunch of new songs to work through and record for next record!
Thanks for the time today, Elad. Is there anything else you may want to add before you go? E: Stay true to yourself and you will never fall!