Lightspeed

Elijah Kessler was just a teenager when the first sessions for what would eventually turn into Lightspeed took place. In some ways, he had begun developing his distinct style of melodic rap from the time he was a kid. But it wasn’t until he began working with Instupendo during his high school years that he began releasing music publicly. At the time, that meant uploading songs to Soundcloud from his boarding school dorm room.

The first real turning point in Elijah’s career happened when one of these songs caught the ear of Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi, and the two struck up a correspondence. A trip to California and a feature on Toro y Moi’s Soul Trash mixtape quickly followed, and the collaboration was up and running. With the idea of an album planted in his head, Elijah set up a new makeshift studio in his basement. He got into a rhythm of quickly recording demos and sending them off to Bear, who would refine and transform them through his own filter until they became something entirely new. The two collaborators found themselves propelled forward by their own excitement, as the whole proved to be greater than the sum of its parts. A distinct sound was emerging, that blended Elijah’s immediacy and knack for melody with Bear’s sonic palette. Over the next several years, the project continued to grow as notable producers Nosaj Thing and Instupendo became involved in the project. In person sessions between Miami, New York, and San Francisco followed, and the album began to take shape.