Info: Dublin-based lo-fi rock act The Elephant Room released their latest collection of tracks via 8 track EP Music On The Bones last month. You're eased in with the sleepy strum and wobble of the title-track, ah yes, I'm already happy, the effect is a mixture of an aural and mental morphine comatose state.
That altered state feeling continues on previous single 'Naive Green', the watery guitar effect like a microcosm for the mood of the entire EP, this is bone fide lo-fi gratuity, with frontman Frank Shortle's warm vocal doubling down on that overwhelming sense of calm.
But it's not all cruising on Music On The Bones as we hear on third track 'Victoria', a Weezer / early-Foo Fighters hybrid that pours more fuzz and grit over the guitars. Another single arrives in 'Connexion', a track we had the pleasure of premiering here in April noting; "...off-beat and slightly wonky timing that recalls American acts such as The Lemonheads, Death Cab for Cutie and Pavement. You make your own sense of their lyrics, or none at all, either works, as the main objective is to not really think at all, and just submit, switch off your thoughts and let it lap at the edges of your ears and brain; "Blind eyes often find, inside an absent mind, that abstract thought soon gets old. Blood is streaked across the white teeth of an old piano. Your senses are uplifted like a bubble in the breeze."
But it's not all cruising on Music On The Bones as we hear on third track 'Victoria', a Weezer / early-Foo Fighters hybrid that pours more fuzz and grit over the guitars. Another single arrives in 'Connexion', a track we had the pleasure of premiering here in April noting; "...off-beat and slightly wonky timing that recalls American acts such as The Lemonheads, Death Cab for Cutie and Pavement. You make your own sense of their lyrics, or none at all, either works, as the main objective is to not really think at all, and just submit, switch off your thoughts and let it lap at the edges of your ears and brain; "Blind eyes often find, inside an absent mind, that abstract thought soon gets old. Blood is streaked across the white teeth of an old piano. Your senses are uplifted like a bubble in the breeze."
The Elephant Room - Blue Horrors
Latest single 'Blue Horrors' (above video) puts between firm brackets everything I enjoy about The Elephant Room's sound, the mood, the little surprise changes mid-song (2:40) and that direct time-travelling connection I have to the genre and a lot of American bands I listened to in my early to mid 20's. 'Covered In Flies' is a nice pointer for new listeners to the type of experimentation you can discover from their earlier discography (of which there is plenty), a carnivalesque mix of blues and old school psychedelia, almost at odds with what we think we know about the band. This broadening of sound can also be witnessed a their live shows which pack a lot more punch that their recorded material may suggest.
Although the band have rightly managed to release 4 singles from this collection of 8 songs (including the excellent 'Brisco'), I think they probably have one more in the tank with closing track 'Well Wishers' which is a pretty ringing endorsement considering most bands might struggle to find 4 from an entire LP. That live show jack in the box I mentioned earlier rearing its head in the final minute of the song which goes from melodious jangles to skulking distorted whammy-bar outbursts.
Music On The Bones is more a mini-album than an EP, and I think it's important that we weren't restricted to the standard four tracks as the full breadth of ideas and opportunity to sink sufficiently into The Elephant Room's world may have been lost. This is a companion piece to your summer and beyond.
