Elephant Stone – Elephant Stone

Pop-Psychedelic-”Hindie”-Rock

Elephant Stone took some time to create the follow-up to their 2009 Polaris Music Prize longlisted debut, The Seven Seas. Since that release, only an EP has escaped their workshop. Three years later, we find them fully immersed in their appealing, if overly hyphenated, pop-psychedelic-”Hindie”-rock sound.

Fronted by delicate-voiced master sitarist Rishi Dhir, Elephant Stone initially come across as descendent of post-Maharishi Beatles. First and foremost, the band’s pop sensibility gives their songs traditional structure and high polish. Nearly all are upbeat 4/4 mid-tempo rock weaving in psychedelia and Indian instrumentation at the fringes, in support of airy vocals singing New Age-y lyrics about our Inner Children. Songs that might seem dire by title spread positivity instead. Although they evoke Dylan with “Masters of War,” it is not a cover nor anything close, but rather an upbeat track that asks, “Must we wait for a brighter day / When all our sins are washed away?”

Elephant Stone truly shines when they move away from pop and bring the Indian psych in from the fringe. Briefly with “A Silent Moment” and more fully embraced in “The Sea of Your Mind,” the elements that make the band unique take centerstage, affecting everything around them. The drums come up higher in the mix, the guitars sound fuller, the bass heavier. Dhir lays silent to let these songs fill their space as instrumentals, offering few words, or non-lyrical vocalizations.  As enjoyable as the rest of the album may be, hearing these tracks gives the listener a greater sense of the band’s possibility, one we hope they explore on future releases.