Los Angeles project Big Trouble have shared their debut single, Mel, ahead of their first album, On Elephant Hill, due out on September 18th via Royal Oakie Records.
Big Trouble is led by multi-instrumentalist Justin Kohlberg, also known for his work as Moonrun and for playing with Rose Droll, Naytronix and Erisy Watt, alongside singer, guitarist and keyboard player Daniel Talamantes. The pair met at a video shoot in 2016 and started jamming together in their free time; those sessions eventually grew into On Elephant Hill, written and recorded over several years in Kohlberg’s home studio, The Greenhouse. Guest contributors on the record include Joe Kaplow, Kelly Koval, Andy Page and David Allred, with mixing from Adrian Olsen (Fruit Bats, Buck Meek, Michael Nau) and mastering by Jack Doutt.
Inspired by Kate Bush, Juan Gabriel and Paul McCartney, the album folds indie rock, folk and soul into a sound that brings to mind Talk Talk, Brian Eno and Broken Social Scene. Its lyrics draw on Carl Jung, W.B. Yeats and Ricardo Flores Magón, as well as Talamantes’s own work in environmental and social justice activism. The album also takes in wider ground, from the 2025 ICE raids in Los Angeles to the quiet ways people avoid confronting what’s in front of them.
Mel, the album opener, takes its cue from Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. “You’re offering everything, even when you know giving can turn into self-erasure,” says Talamantes of the song’s look at what it costs to commit to a movement.
On Elephant Hill will be available digitally and on streaming platforms worldwide from September 18th.