{"id":11721,"date":"2016-11-09T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2016-11-09T10:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=11721"},"modified":"2016-11-06T10:36:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-06T15:36:02","slug":"elephant-stones-rhisi-dhir-sitar-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/09\/elephant-stones-rhisi-dhir-sitar-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant Stone’s Rhisi Dhir: Sitar Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

There aren’t many rock bands that feature the sitar as a primary instrument. But Montreal-based Elephant Stone<\/strong><\/a> does, and the band incorporates the Indian classical acoustic instrument into its modern sound. The 18-plus stringed sitar first entered Western pop culture in the mid 1960s via the Beatles<\/strong>, and is most often associated with that era of pop music.<\/p>\n

\"elephant_stone\"<\/p>\n

But Elephant Stone’s leader and songwriter Rhisi Dhir<\/strong> isn’t concerned about the group being painted into a stylistic corner because of its unique choice of instrumentation. \u201cI only use sitar when I feel a song can benefit from it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt’s just another tool in my palette.\u201d Elephant Stone’s albums tend to place the pop songs up front. \u201cSide B is where I get experimental,\u201d says Dhir.<\/p>\n

Released in September, Ship of Fools<\/i> is Elephant Stone’s fourth album. One of the highlights on the new record’s second side is \u201cSilence Can Say So Much.\u201d Dhir describes it as \u201cthe most fusion-y song I’ve ever done. And it was all written on the sitar.\u201d A relatively more modern instrument is at the center of \u201cLove is Like a Spinning Wheel,\u201d another standout track on the new album. On that track, the centerpiece instrument is an electric<\/i> sitar, a somewhat gimmicky modified guitar that was a fixture of late-sixties pop tunes like \u201cGreen Tambourine\u201d by the Lemon Pipers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n