{"id":25811,"date":"2023-08-11T05:30:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T09:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25811"},"modified":"2023-08-15T12:26:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T16:26:45","slug":"album-review-elephonic-s-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/11\/album-review-elephonic-s-t\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Elephonic \u2013 s\/t"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25812\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elephonic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elephonic.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elephonic-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/elephonic-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>An absolutely wonderful album in danger of being overlooked, <i>Elephonic<\/i> brings together the best qualities of The Byrds and John Lennon without sounding explicitly like either. (Elephonic is from Milwaukee.) \u201cWhy Can\u2019t You Listen\u201d has a nostalgic air but a timeless production style; with one foot in the past and another in the present day, it\u2019s an example of the qualities that make pop an enduring art form. The song\u2019s lovely middle eight is filled with lovely string work, but the subtle rocking that forms the song\u2019s core remains intact. Cello and violin are seamlessly integrated into the arrangement, not merely grafted on and\/or overdubbed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWonderin\u2019\u201d has a breezy, melancholy air that \u2013 once again \u2013 feels like but does not sound like another artist: this time, the Beach Boys with hints of George Harrison. Songwriter-guitarist Mike Jarvis demonstrates a deep knowledge of the qualities that make a song memorable. \u201cUntil the Sound\u201d has a thundering piano figure at its core; it\u2019s redolent of Del Shannon, or what Shannon might have sounded like had he (as was reportedly considered) joined the Traveling Wilburys. But the song <em>moves<\/em> more, rocks harder than the Wilburys ever did; in that respect it\u2019s closer to Tom Petty.<\/p>\n<p>As its title suggests, \u201cDurango Sound\u201d evokes thoughts of spaghetti westerns. Wonderfully resonant fiddles and twelve-string guitars conjure a vibe equal parts Roy Orbison and Herb Alpert. A delight. And enthusiastically strummed acoustic guitars give \u201cRapid Transit\u201d a character that calls to mind Midnight Oil, with harmonies by way of Peter and Gordon. Guest player Jim Schwarz provides some note-perfect harmonica.<\/p>\n<p>On \u201cIris,\u201d Jarvis affects a vocal character reminiscent of Michael Quercio (The Three O\u2019Clock), and it suits the tune perfectly. \u201cFreedom Bells\u201d has a chiming Jackie DeShannon-meets-Crowded House feel. \u201cHealthy Acres\u201d is another sturdy pop tune with a spirit-lifting arrangement. The album\u2019s longest cut at six-plus minutes, it makes the most of extended instrumental breaks. And telegraphing some of the group\u2019s influences \u2013 as if keen listeners might not have spotted them already \u2013 the pointedly-titled \u201cMemphis UK\u201d ranks among the best tracks on the set.<\/p>\n<p><i>Elephonic<\/i> is hereby shortlisted for my Best of 2023 list. Check back in late December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An absolutely wonderful album in danger of being overlooked, Elephonic brings together the best qualities of The Byrds and John Lennon without sounding explicitly like either. (Elephonic is from Milwaukee.) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,65],"tags":[5216],"class_list":["post-25811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-elephonic","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25816,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811\/revisions\/25816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}