Future Elevator

Born out of an ever-growing scene, Birmingham, Alabama’s Future Elevators will release their self-titled debut album on February 19th via Communicating Vessels. The album was produced by Lynn Bridges and Mixed by Darrell Thorp (Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief, Beck’s Morning Phase). Today, the band is sharing the first taste of their forthcoming album with “Modern World.” Frontman Michael Shackelford found inspiration watching old episodes of Carl Sagan’s legendary documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The celestial visual, planets spinning in space, and clusters of stars imploding inspired the song’s zero-gravity groove. It’s a space jam powered by a roomy dub beat and shimmery indie-pop synths, making “Modern World” an apt introduction to Future Elevators’ anything-goes aesthetic.

Shackelford talks about “Alabama Song”, “That first part sounded like a song on its own, but I had this other piece of music that seemed like it fit perfectly. I wanted to deviate from a traditional arrangement, but I didn’t want to do it just for the sake of shifting gears.”
Instead, “Alabama Song” is all the more poignant for taking such a risk. “I was thinking about being a dad now and having a baby girl. I have to remind myself to like in the moment and enjoy where I am, to take a minute to realize that everything is okay for this moment. That’s why I named it ‘Alabama Song.’ It felt like home to me.”

Shackelford grew up in a musical family. His grandfather ran a music school in Birmingham, his Uncle played guitar for The Temptations, and his mother performed on a local television variety show in the 70’s and 80’s. He spent most of his early year’s as the drummer in his grandfather’s country and western band, where he did the VFW tour of the South. Growing up, he found his way into just about every band playing in Birmingham and finally arrived at the vision for his own project- Future Elevators. The self-titled 10-track LP will be released on vinyl, CD and digitally on February 19th. - Northern Transmissions

Future Elevators – Modern World
This is the first single from the Alabama five-piece’s debut album, already pencilled in for a January 2016 release on a label called Communicating Vessels, appropriately enough because the music communicates a sense of wonder. Their gently groovy music is no less spacily pretty than Gold Celeste’s, and the band are no less hifalutin when it comes to influences – apparently, Modern World came from watching old episodes of Carl Sagan’s documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. It’s about technology and the possibilities it offers. “I wanted to write a pop song that was universal,” explains frontman Michael Shackelford. “At the end of the day, all we have in common is that we’re all on this rock going around in circles.” - The Guardian

Los Angeles – “Modern World” is the first song released by Birmingham, Alabama’s Future Elevators. The band will release a debut self titled album in 2016, but this is a little taste of what is to come. Frontman Michael Shackelford found inspiration watching old episodes of Carl Sagan’s legendary documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The celestial visuals-planets spinning in space, clusters of stars imploding-inspired the song’s zero-gravity groove: It’s a space jam powered by a roomy dub beat and shimmery indie-pop synths, which makes “Modern World” an apt introduction to Future Elevators’ anything-goes aesthetic. - Bestnewbands.com