The synth pop outfit Elkland features Jon Pierce (vocals), Joel Tarpin (keyboards), Adam Kessler (guitar), and Jesse Pierce (drums). The four-piece began crafting a new wave-influenced sound in their upstate New York stomping grounds of Horseheads in 2002. Brother Jon and Jesse Pierce grew up in a strict religious household where pop music wasn't allowed, but that all changed once Jon received a copy of Joy Electric's Melody album. By the late '90s, the Pierce brothers were sequencing their favorite songs by the likes of Joy Division, Yaz, the Smiths, and Björk on their dad's old synthesizer. Schoolhood chums Tarpin and Kessler joined the two brothers in various bands, most notably Goat Explosion, but it was the formation of Elkland upon their graduation from high school that solidified their goals in music. The band's debut album, Golden, appeared on Columbia in spring 2005.
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