Elephants and Stars, the Toronto and Hamilton-area trio-cum-quintet are back again with more songs, more melodies and more members!

Their new EP, Dreamland, is definitely tougher, louder, faster and has a darker underbelly lyrically leaning a little more heavily on their rock influences than their first EP, Recovery.

"There are a few recurring themes on the record weaving through all of the songs. Isolation, conflict both internal and external and escapism. While it doesn't tell a chronological story, all of the protagonists are dealing with difficult situations or toxic relationships and are looking for ways out. Those ways out can be substance abuse, ending relationships or even killing yourself." - Manfred Sittmann

In a way this record could be the unmade soundtrack to the Twilight Zone episode Five Characters in Search of an Exit, especially as there were originally only 5 songs on the EP. The Dreamland album cover comes from the photo of an abandoned theme park.

"I thought it was such a great metaphor for life. There is this great and wonderful facade, but inside it's just all left to rot in the end", says Manfred.

Following the release of 2020's Recovery EP, recorded and mixed by Lowest of the Low frontman Ron Hawkins, no one could have predicted what happened next. Recovery was released just as the world plunged into what would become the worst pandemic in over 100 years and essentially shut the music business down for the next year.

Luckily for Elephants and Stars, just prior to this they entered the studio with heavyweight Canadian musician and producer Ian Blurton (Lowest of the Low, The Weakerthans) and recorded 6 new tracks which became Dreamland.

"Working with Ian was something we'd always wanted to do, dating back to earlier bands we were in," says guitarist Manfred Sittmann. "I knew I was always a fan of his production so I knew sonically it was going to make us sound as good as we possibly could. What surprised even me was what a great ear for pop music he has. Most of my favourite moments on the record came out of Ian's suggestions. Plus it was a thrill to work with someone we'd admired for so long"

ABOUT - Elephants and Stars:

Singer-guitarist Manfred Sittmann and bassist Mike MacMillan have "never not been in a band together". In the early 2000's they formed Soap Opera, which was signed to Bullseye Records releasing two albums, Poised and Welcome to the Tangiers. Then came The First Time, whose 2004 debut It's On, a faster and heavier take on Soap Opera's pop-punk sound, produced by Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, Matthew Good). It's On was named Best Punk Record at the 2005 Toronto Independent Music Awards and received rave reviews, as well as mainstream US radio play and TV network licensing for the singles "Goodbye Harlowe" and "New Day Dawning."