CD Review – Elephant Stone

The press release that came along with Elephant Stone’s self-titled debut remarks, “This album is not shoegaze, power-pop, chillwave, indie rock, etc. This album is Elephant Stone”. And, as pretentious as that may sound, it’s actually semi-accurate. Elephant Stone sounds like an album written without intentions of conforming to a particular genre, drawing on any influence the band may encounter. At times, the guitar riffs wouldn’t sound out of place on a Neil Young & Crazy Horse song while simultaneously embracing the psychedelia of Dark Side of the Moon style organ and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band sitar.

The first half of Elephant Stone is pleasant and enjoyable, but it does feel a bit nondescript nevertheless. One of the album’s better tracks, “Heavy Moon”, does come within the album’s opening ten minutes, but it’s not until midway through the album that Elephant Stone really picks up. Before the sixth track, “Looking Thru Baby Blue”, Elephant Stone, while still satisfactory, never really has any of those moments that make you nod your head, give you goosebumps, turn up the volume, or scream along like a lunatic in your car. From there, the album is much more grabbing, and it builds until it climaxes with the extended improvised section in the album’s penultimate track, “The Sea of Your Mind”.

All in all, Elephant Stone is a well-written record that’s solid through and through, and definitely something worth checking out.

Paul Bogdan
A&C Editor