Hailing from Georgia in the US, indie folk rockers Elf Power have just released their eigth album titled Back to the Web. I was wondering how the previous seven albums passed me by until I discovered that their last release, Walking With The Beggar Boys was the first one to be distributed in Australia.
Elf Power formed in 1994 as the brainchild of Andrew Reiger. The line-up has changed over the last 12 years as the band toured extensively throughout America and Europe, and released a stack of material. Although not making it to Australian shores yet, I’m very glad this album did, and hopefully it will inspire a tour in the near future.
Back To the Web is an enchanting album full of understated elegance. True to its name, Elf Power weave a web of tales about the earth, dreams, and gypsy spaces. Reiger’s other venture is a record label called Orange Twin which has put out several Elf Power CDs (although this one is out on Rykodisc). Orange Twin is also a land conservation group that own 150 acres on the outskirts of the band’s hometown of Athens. Proceeds of Orange Twin record sales go to supporting the conservation activities. Framed by this background, Elf Power make music that is organic, textured and rich in timbres.
The sound is psychedelic, but escapes rigid hippy territory. Back To The Web is essentially guitar driven, accompanied by a range of instruments including cello, clarinet, banjo and violin. There is a middle eastern influence in songs like ‘Rolling Black Water’, which combines delicate tinkering and rattlesnake layers, to create a haunting presence. The track ‘Come Lie Down With Me’ (and Sing My Song) opens the CD in a dark, melodic haze and your ears succumb to Reiger’s poetic lyrical delivery. Following this, ‘An Old Familiar Scene’ conjures up memories of the past, and is supported by fast rolling drums and strong string arrangements.
It’s about here that some artists spring to mind for comparison. Elf Power are in the same book as bands like The Doves, Wilco and The Shins. Walking a line of skewed indie pop and folk, these bands soar in their range and just as easily bring it back to simple melodic tunes. The key common element is eclectic songwriting and variety of sounds.
Moving through the second half of the album, we stumble along to ‘Somewhere Down the River’ which is a happy, progressive rock /pop song, however a little too familiar sounding. ‘All the World is Waiting’ is a 70s inspired pop singalong of group harmonies and handclaps. Acoustic lullabies on 12 string guitars also feature for example in ‘Under the Northern Sky’, but its the last song thats the clincher to a solid album. The title track, ‘Back to the Web’, takes up the rear end of the disc, and it builds to a momentous explosion of dark, mysterious instrumentation.
Back To The Web rolls along through pastures of sound, but perhaps washes up without any obvious striking highlights. It’s an album that may require direct attention initially to avoid it blending in to the background. But the attention spent is worth it, as the lushly orchestrated sounds come together in a powerful way and you are all the more enlightened for having listened to it.
This is a confident and creative release from a band churning out their eigth album. Having not heard their other releases, I can’t comment on their progression, but for me, this is an welcome release and a pleasing new discovery.
