Land of Talk

As Land of Talk, Elizabeth Powell pushes indie rock's boundaries while questioning society's confining expectations. When the project emerged in 2006 with Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, their spiky, raucous songs and Powell's keening, vibrato-laden vocals evoked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but their sound soon grew more nuanced; 2008's Some Are Lakes gave equal time to their music's beauty as well as its bite. After a lengthy hiatus during which Powell considered quitting music altogether, Land of Talk experienced a creative rebirth with the gently eclectic contemplations of mortality on 2017's Life After Youth and 2020's similarly introspective Indistinct Conversations, both of which featured expansive sounds and clear-eyed, confessional songwriting. With 2023's Performances, Powell continued Land of Talk's reinvention, setting the guitar aside in favor of keyboard-driven explorations of their identity as a non-binary artist.