Elim Hall was ahead of their time in so many ways. It’s a real shame that they are just a blip on the radar screen of indie rock nowadays, as their preeminence is hard to over state. One of the earliest alternative rock bands to be signed to a major label in the CCM market, their only label release was snappy, melodic, memorable, and well-produced (somewhat surprisingly by Gary Chapman, along with veteran Jesus rocker Tim Marsh).
This Canadian band wrote incredibly catchy, somewhat complex (for pop music) songs that were primarily in the power pop realm, but infused with touches of new wave and at times a punk-like urgency. While there was nothing much like them in the Christian scene, musically they are right at home with similar mainstream artists like The Police, The Romantics, and The Outfield.
Drummer Steve Marsh and guitarist Glen Teeple later joined fellow-Canadian power popsters One Hundred Days (FKA The Obvious), but sadly Steve was diagnosed with liver cancer and died in 1996, before the album he’d just recorded with the band even hit the stores. R.I.P. Steve.
The whole album is fantastic, so it’s hard to choose just one song, but for our purposes here let’s go with album opener “Hypothermia.” The track opens with an unconventional drum beat in a strange take on 3/4, but just wait till those guitars kick in!