Elephant Sessions go bravely forth, or fifth even, with plenty enough new to appeal and plenty enough old to entice.
CALCULATED
Bumping into, as you do, Alasdair Taylor, the burly mandolinist of Elephant Sessions, at Folk East, before their performance, he suggested many might take surprise at this album, possibly even that it was a risk, if calculated. Surprise? Risk? Well, given this defiantly instrumental quartet, for album number 5 they have now taken the unprecedented step of adding vocals, so I can well understand his degree of reticence. Here we have certainly taken to the old stuff, so should we be worried?
A 4D SOUNDSCAPE
Reassuringly, rather than overdoing too much of the hope-you-like-our-new-direction, fear not, as, by and large, normal service is maintained. The core strength of the band remains unsullied, and the handful of songs that contain guesting voices remain mostly complementary rather than contrasting. It is all part of the evolving creativity of the band, as they hunker down on the essentials and expand their spread. Those essentials centre around the dense jiggery-pokery precision with which Taylor’s mandolin meets with Euan Smillie’s fiddle , as the never more funky basement of Greg Barry’s drums and new boy, Calum MacQuarrie, on bass, take a rocksteady grip on the groove. Add in all of Barry’s sampled sounds, somehow simultaneously steered, and it all adds up to a powerful 4D soundscape.
MAXIMUM MANIPULATION
And it is with that MO in mind that off they kick, with Outbound. A glowing ember of flickering electronica and strings emerge, before Taylor and Smillie lock horns, their two instruments leading a vibrant jig. Just listen, right from the start, as to how McQuarrie’s bass is already dancing a basement fling, propelled along by the motorik drums. This is how they reel in their faithful, who have flocked to a summer of headlined festivals, the length and breadth of the land. With a slower simmer of synths conducting a woozy middle section, the tempo switches are all exquisitely controlled for maximum manipulation of the mosh.
No complaints here, chaps, as Fade follows, hot on similar heels. If anything, the precision funk of previous outings has subtly embraced more of a dance and house electronica ambient, with Barry sneaking in trancescapes, to offset the still extant fumes of neo-trad. Let me mention again the intuitive interplay between McQuarrie and Barry, which gives an intense shoogle to the mellifluous mandolin/fiddle calisthenic.
This is the biz, really, which is a good time to bring in guest number one, Hamish Hutcheson, frontman of Glasgow’s VLURE. VLURE have probably more in common with Prime Scream than ceilidhs, you’d think, but Elephant Sessions are no white heather club either, so his sprechgesang ranting recital sits well, with few horses frightened. That the rich broth of Glasgow nightlife can accommodate both bands, and so comfortably, gives due credit to all the cross-pollinations available and freely taken.
SLEIGHT OF SOUND
Two-Step offers no let-up in energy, hurtling forward on another mando and fiddle surge. The rhythm guys have found another pulse to pin the melody firmly into place, so much so that it becomes easy to forget quite how intricately the string players combine. Some dubby FX sidle in and out, the tune carried in turn through different filters. You dancing? You should be.
We’ve heard the next one, Run, an earlier single, where Scottish man of the moment, Beluga Lagoon, or Andrew O’Donnell, as his ma calls him, makes a song out of another belter of trad-dance fusion. The original shock factor has settled, and it sounds more a logical step forward. Quite how this might pan out, in a live setting, is uncertain, but I can imagine, certainly for bigger shows, the sort of revue style adopted by Networks or RURA, each of whom use vocals yet have no overt vocalist in the band.
The tempo slows right down for Homebound, a wistful air that smacks of the hearths and homes yearned for as the touring schedule bites. Over lush fauxchestration, Smillie’s fiddle weeps over a gently rising bubble of beats. I’m sure this has been played live over the summer, a centrepiece of their shows, allowing the display of a more sensitive side. It segues, near seamlessly, into the clubbier Café del Mar of Body, where Taylor’s mandolin is initially more to the fore. Two thirds in and, somehow, through sleight of sound, we are getting a whole new Elephant Sessions, under our eyes and between our ears, without even fully realising it. Clever, that, and kudos to producer, Duncan Lyall.
MOOD APPROPRIATE RETRONICA
Rather than the easier option of a full pelt banger to close the set, it is the moody Back To The Start they choose to end with. A brave choice, this a song that features Alice Faye on the vocals. An up and coming torch singer, she embraces both chanson and cabaret styles into a a retro-cinematic vibe. Unfamiliar with her work, and with her debut release still some months away, this feels more like the band backing her than it ought. I’m sure, in context, it would be fine, but it feels an outlier here, and she fits less satisfactorily than the other two guests. Sure, it shows the boys can apply mood appropriate textures that are other than their usual domain, but this should be their show, rather than hers. I mean, it’s OK, but it’s on the wrong album.
NETTLE GRASPED
So, has the risk been worth it? Despite the feel of the last track wrong-footing the template too far, I would still say a whole-hearted yes. Instrumental bands all carry some burden of tending towards self-repetition, as they strive to evolve, without losing the core sound and original momentum. Elephant Sessions have certainly embraced that challenge with aplomb, morphing enough new into the expected recipe to demonstrate any avoidance of auto-pilot. They are not alone in seeking to expand their palette; witness some of the raised eyebrows as Mànran released their last. I call it progress, and look forward to what comes next. With their promo stating “Elephant Sessions sound less like a folk band experimenting with electronics and more like an electronic act that happens to carry the Highlands with it everywhere it goes“, that nettle has been firmly grasped.
Here’s Fade:
Elephant Sessions: Website