ELI SMART Shares 'Highschool Steady' Live Video

Eli Smart released his debut EP Boonie Town last month along with his newest single "Highschool Steady." The track exemplifies Smart's ability to craft idiosyncratic pop that feels like a bridge between his two worlds - the tropical vibes of his Hawaii home with chops sharpened in Liverpool, England. Today, Eli shares the electrifying and colorful live version of "Highschool Steady." Calling his music tropicalia-influenced blue-eyed soul, MXDWN premiered the video saying "the live cut just like the studio version, is built around a slick, funky-soul style guitar riff that is drenched in laid-back island vibes."

On the live video of "Highschool Steady" Eli notes: "I wanted to shoot the live version of this tune in my old room on Kauai (where we shot the music video) so it would have a similar theme and atmosphere to the proper video. I got all my mates together and we learned the tune in a few takes, they're all such amazing players! I even got my dad to play Hawaiian lap steel guitar for this version, it glued the live version together in such a beautiful way. The band is Jordan Paul on lemon shaker and backing vocals, Kaniho on bass, Cory Mira on guitar, Kirk Smart on lap steel and Hamster on drums. Shot by Cliff Mello and recorded by Andrew Vastola! The dream team!!"

Raised on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii, Eli Smart moved to Liverpool to attend Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institution for Performing Arts. It was there that his musical inspiration reached new levels as Smart found himself pushed to create his own wildly colourful musical world. He soon found himself releasing this new output, drawing the attention of the music press (the UK's Clash have said he, "matches neat indie pop tropes to a superbly relaxing sense of 80s soul and R&B"), music fans, and music industry alike. With Boonie Town, Smart is stretching his pop sensibilities into new territories by juxtaposing hazy malaise and sunshine ("Come Down"), unfurling complex musicality (the quicksilver fretwork of "High School Steady"), and experimenting with form and delivery (the staccato flows of "No Destination"). The synthesis of these two places he now calls home is what the EP is about, Smart explains. "I'm feeling a little torn about getting my own life going outside of Kauai, which will always be my home. It's just a bit of a melancholy realization, you know?"

Smart grew up around family with music in their bones. His grandmother Denise Kaufman (known professionally as "Mary Microgram") shredded the six-string and opened for Jimi Hendrix as part of the '60s all-girl psych-rock group, Ace of Cups. And his grandpa and father are both jazz guitarists, the former having shared a bill with Duke Ellington. His mother, a jazz singer and writer, meanwhile, may have had the most impact on Smart. "Mom is the most musical out of all of us," he says. "Her songwriting has been a massive influence on me."

Vital soul, blues, and Motown wafted through his home as a kid alongside classic counterculture pop. And he learned even more working at Hanalei Strings, the island's only record shop. "We put a stage in the corner and put on gig nights there with my mates and whatnot," Smart says. "We created a little environment, so it was very much like music camp for my family. Their passion for it was directly transferred to me." It was there that his tastes really filled out, as he found himself particularly enamored with Beleza Tropical, a 1989 compilation of Brazilian classics curated by David Byrne. It's easy to hear the marks tropicalia have made on Smart, clear in the glittering jangle of woozy guitars and rhythms made for moving to.

With the release of Boonie Town, Eli Smart pulls off a feat that would have seemed impossible on paper, and by mixing together his Kauai sunshine with Liverpool's hard English rain. He has created an entirely new, dreamy place we can visit: the land of Aloha Soul.

Listen here:

Photo Credit: Sami Livé

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