Justin Elswick remembers the day he discovered music.
"I was 3 or 4," Elswick said, "and my parents gave me one of those Fisher Price industrial record players. I remember still that two hours later I was lying on the floor of my room listening to the records over and over. I wouldn't leave the room."
Elswick grew up in Southern California as more a listener than a player. "My parents were fond of melodic folk music, so I grew up listening to Gordon Lightfoot and Simon & Garfunkel. That's why I'm still fond of expansive melody and storytelling songs."
He did not have piano lessons, but when he visited his grandmother, he spent time at her piano, picking out melodies. In high school he was the DJ at all the school dances. "The cheerleaders would come to me to put together tapes for their routines. That was pretty cool."
Elswick also remembers the day that music became something more. "I was leaving on my (LDS Church) mission, and at the (Missionary Training Center in Provo), I heard one of the guys playing the piano. It just hit me. I realized I had to do something more with music."
Over the next few years, Elswick taught himself to sight-read music. As a student at Brigham Young University, he took some theory and songwriting classes. "Then I bought a keyboard, and I began to lay down layers."
All the while, he continued his education, earning a B.A. in history, a masters of philosophy from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, in Ireland, and then a law degree from the J. Reuben Clark law school at BYU.
Now a full-time attorney with the Provo firm of Ascione, Heideman & McKay by day, he is still making music by night. His first CD, "The Dawnseeker," produced under his Sleepthief moniker, has just been released nationwide by Florida-based Neurodisc Records.
The album is touted as "one of the most highly anticipated releases in the world of electronica," and features collaborations with some of the most respected singers in the field, including Kirsty Hawkshaw, Caroline Lavelle, Harland, Kristy Thirsk, Jody Quine, Kyoko Baertsoen, Nicola Hitchcock, Roberta Carter Harrison, san.drine, Jerry Eckert and Lauren Edman.
"It's my dream list," Elswick said. "I've listened to some of these women for 15 years. I'm still not quite sure how it happened. I'm quite nonplussed to think I talk to them on the phone now."
It happened because, in his spare time, Elswick became a freelance music critic for the popular Web site www.musicaldiscoveries.com, and in the course of writing reviews became acquainted with many of the leading ladies of electronica music. "I was originally going to use just one vocalist, Jerry Eckert, who's local. But she'd just had a baby and was busy, so I began touching base with some of the others."
According to Neurodisc, "The Dawnseeker" is "epic, transcendent-style electronic/worldbeat/ethereal music." If that sounds like quite a mix, it's because Elswick has been influenced by a lot of different styles. "I'm a big fan of '80s pop. I like classical music. I was in Ireland for a year, so Celtic is a huge influence. In fact, that's where I first heard Enya, and that kind of redirected my course into the female voice and its harmonies.
"I also like folk, rock, world music. I have a weird, eclectic collection that ranges from a Bulgarian women's chorus to Asian and Arabic music. I also love cinematic soundtracks."
Elswick describes himself as "a romantic — in the Romantic Movement sense. I love the visual imagery, the sweeping landscapes of the movement." The album's opening song, "Eurydice" was inspired by a Greek myth, "but they all try to convey something."
Engineered and co-produced by his friend Israel Curtis, "The Dawnseeker" has taken two years and countless hours of lost sleep. It's a featured album at Borders and Barnes & Noble this month, and has been highlighted at Virgin Records. "I really couldn't ask for it to come together any better," Elswick says.
Later on, there may be a live show, a tour, and he's writing for a second album. But he's also working on a movie. "I actually got accepted to (the University of Southern California's) film school last fall, but it didn't work out to go, so now I'm doing a movie here."
But for now, there's "The Dawnseeker."
"I just hope people enjoy the music," Elswick says. "Fame has no appeal for me. I've never wanted that. Even if there were no sales, I'd never stop doing the music." (That's one reason he uses the Sleepthief name.)
Music, he says, "is the ultimate way of expressing myself. We all have ways we communicate; secret languages that have to do with our talents and hobbies. My feeling comes out in sound, and it is rewarding when people tap into that.
"Music is a way to tap into things with total strangers. They look into your heart, and they know what you are talking about."
E-mail: carma@desnews.com