Elf Power
Issue #28
Back to the Web (Rykodisc)
By Garin Pirnia
Published: June 1st, 2006 | 9:09am
Elf Power is part of Athens, Georgia’s renowned Elephant 6 Collective featuring Of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Olivia Tremor Control. Since its first record in 1995, the band’s sound has evolved from lo-fi, mixed instrumentations to the Neutral Milk Hotel glory of Nothing’s Going to Happen to this, their eighth record, the folk-rock-induced, psychedelic Back to the Web. Here, the instrumentation and arrangements are inviting, but overall, the record disappoints.
Back to the Web has the constant themes of water, night versus morning, and transcendentalism. “Come Lay Down With Me (And Sing My Song)” opens the album with an acoustic guitar and violin that sounds a bit morbid. “An Old Familiar Scene” contains a myriad of instruments that spins into chaos. The first three songs are solemn, but “King of Earth,” an enriched traditional folk track, breaks the dreariness. “23rd Dream” evokes Magnetic Fields with the use of the always-welcoming mandolin and banjo, and the opening chords of “The Spider and the Fly” conjure up the Rolling Stones’ classic, “Paint it Black.” Near the album’s end, “All the World is Waiting” dissipates the clouds and becomes a jovial and celebratory song about coming out the darkness.
Elf Power’s other efforts like the wonderful Creatures and the better-than-average Walking with the Beggar Boys presented catchy songs, but on Back to the Web, folk doesn’t necessarily work for the band and neither does Andrew Rieger’s aseptic voice.
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