Hometown: Chicago IL US

With Welsh-born Elia as the ringleader, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir is a free-spirited collective of musical visionaries who turn out exuberant and rough-hewn chamber pop. Over 50 musicians appear on the band's Bloodshot debut The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, including core players Ellen O’Hayer (the band’s cellist and vocalist who moonlights in Bright Eyes’ touring band,) bassist and recording engineer Mark Yoshizumi, drummer Jay Santana, violin player Ethan Adelsman and Sam Johnson of Mucca Pazza and Head of Femur on trumpet. The extended Scotland Yard family is comprised of a who’s-who of the Chicago underground music community, boasting the likes of Sally Timms, Nora O’Connor and Kelly Hogan, who sing backup on the album, and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley), Matt Priest and Megan O’Conner (Canasta), and Brett Whitacre (Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers.)

In a few short years, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir has become one of the Chicago indie music scene’s best-kept secrets, with Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis opining upon “Jennie That Cries”, the single from the band’s debut i bet you say that to all the boys, “[it’s] a beautiful, lulling single, with special emphasis on the gorgeous vocals.” The band’s music has served as a backdrop to many television shows, including The OC, What About Brian and the movie Special, and their self-released debut received attention from Time Out NY, Billboard, and Popmatters.