Elysian Fields

Elysian Fields. Brooklyn duo, singer Jennifer Charles and guitarist Oren Bloedow, writing together since 1995. Mostly acoustic instruments, piano and guitar with occasional strings, all built around Charles's contralto. Critics call it noir rock. Key records: Bleed Your Cedar (1996), Queen of the Meadow (2000), The Afterlife (2009), where 'Climbing My Dark Hair' lives, and What the Thunder Said (2024). Here's the thing: their second album, made with Steve Albini, was shelved when their label, Radioactive, rejected it as too raw and uncommercial and wanted it redone. The band refused, and the record sat unreleased for seventeen years before they finally put it out themselves as Clinical Trial in 2014.

From the notes for Episode 07 · fact-checked Sep 24, 2026.