Elbows, AKA Max Schieble, is a San Francisco-based songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as visual artist. On October 27, 2021 he released his debut album, 'Tales From The Old Mill,' a project that explores the concept of “home” as a physical place, a memory, and a desire through a warbling concoction of psychedelic pop, jazz, hip hop, funk and electronic. He chronicles his return to the Bay Area through tales of missing parents, debauchery in the upper middle class, and a fateful train trip up north. Musical styles swerve between songs, as a 70’s funk groove gives way to a leering 808-filled beat, which leads to a dusty bossa nova loop, while maintaining a unified atmosphere across the record, at once both spooky and whimsical.

The road to 'The Old Mill' began with a literal journey home, as a group of core-collaborators, including producer/engineer Alex Pyle, drummer Dillon Treacy, pianist DanMichael Reyes, and violinist Danny Lentz, traveled with Elbows back to the Bay Area to record at Studio P, the home studio of his childhood neighbor, Joe Paulino. For Elbows it was important that his friends and collaborators experience the physical places that inspired the songs and stories of the album. The benefits of this destination-recording manifested in the form of spontaneous synth patches from ancient devices, late-night woodland field recordings, and a buffet of percussion collected by Paulino through the years. Recording was completed in New York with additional frequent collaborators while Elbows simultaneously created the short film ‘Winterlude,’ comprised of vignettes and music videos inspired by the album themes.

Culled from the same initial album sessions were Elbows’ first two EPs, Corduroy (2017) and Sycamore (2018). Together the two releases received praise from Bandcamp Weekly, IMPOSE Magazine, Okayplayer, and others.Elbows has appeared with Grammy Award winner Natalia Lafourcade, Nick Hakim, BENEE, L’Rain, Kendra Morris, and others. He has performed throughout the greater east coast and in 2018 made his international debut at Festival OFF de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada.

‘Tales From The Old Mill’ is available now on EveryDejaVu Records.