Growing up with Elder
Heavy psych outfit taps into the past to create an exciting future
THE BOSTON heavy psych outfit, Elder will be rattling the foundations of Reina Sofia culture centre in Callosa de Segura on Thursday, November 8.
The concert forms part of the Callosa & Roll series of rock concerts that have been taking place in the town since October 6, when Electric Alley from Cádiz took to the stage.
The second performance was at the hands of The Klessjoss band from Zaragoza on October 20.
The Elder concert, which is the only international act of the series, forms part of the band’s extensive 30-plus date European tour.
The trio are currently riding high on the back of their latest (June 2017) release, Reflections of a Floating World.
The release saw the core three - Nicholas DiSalvo (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Jack Donovan (bass) and Matt Couto (drums) - joined by Michael Risberg (guitar) and
Michael Samos (pedal steel), in order to add vibrancy and lushness to the album.
The band say that the album’s ‘long, undulating and dense tracks float between psychedelic passages and progressive rock without missing a beat; adventurous and unpredictable songs are punctuated by hypnotic jams, all coloured by the tendency toward melody and dynamism that has become their hallmark’.
Across the board, praise for the album has been high, with Rolling Stone magazine rating it number five on its list of top metal albums for 2017, stating: “The key to their appeal is a skilful cherry-picking of around five decades worth of riffy awesomeness – not just the tectonic art-doom of the Neurosis school and the geeky proto–math rock of obscure proggers like Gentle Giant but also the Allman Brothers’ way with a tasty melodic flourish and Hawkwind’s spacey throb.”
Rolling Stone really do hit the nail on the head with this observation, but what they forgot to note is that the sound is as fresh as a daisy. There is nothing jaded and dank-smelling about Reflections of a Floating World.
Given that the average duration of the album’s six tracks is a little in excess 10 minutes, many readers would rightfully feel that the tunes feature plenty of filler and a lot of listener nail examining and yawning could be taking place. But individually the tracks are diverse, layered and dare I say it, sumptuous enough to keep this listener’s attention throughout.
Reflections of a Floating World incorporates enough four-to-the-floor stoner riffage to keep the most serious of jazz cigarette smokers delightfully happy, but elegantly woven into this tapestry are acres of sonic Elysian Fields, where the vivid imagery conjured up by the slower, more textured segments is given space to languish in eternal ecstasy.
Overall the album is a real delight, offering something to fans of many aspects of rock music, ranging from doom metal, heavy psych and prog all the way to krautrock.
The krautrock element raises its head beautifully on the track Sonntag, which eases itself in gently with a repetitive beat that is reminiscent of the Neu masterpiece, Hallogallo.
The track acts a as counterbalance to the album’s fat and heavy riffs and highlights the fact that Elder are happy experimenting in rock music’s outer regions.
Elder formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 2006 and since that time have released five full-length albums as well as demos, EPs and a split album with Queen Elephantine.
With each release the band has finely nuanced their sound; the eponymous debut clearly references Dopesmoker-era Sleep and their bass player, Al Cisneros’ extra-curricular offshoot, Om.
With the follow up, Dead Roots Stirring, the band maintains the debut’s intense stoner influence but incorporates hints of heavy psych.
The next full-length release was a live recording made at the stoner, psych and experimental festival, Roadburn in 2013.
This album reflects the band’s history until that time, but listening to it following the release of 2015’s Lore, which pushes the heavy psych envelope a little further and begins to see the introduction of more texture (if lacking a little subtlety) into the band’s overall sound. Listeners with an ear for this type of music will realise that this gradual, slowburning development has really paid off.
The realisation that the music is not all about fat riffs and biting solos, but an overall sound that slowly envelops the listener over the course of an entire album paid no end of dividends. Reflections of a Floating World is a multi-tempo master class in how to make the genre accessible yet constantly interesting and evolving.
Now for the interesting part: given all of the psychedelic, distant earth, fantasy imagery, when the last chord has been struck and the lights go up we would expect a group of grey-bearded, wizened old mushroom heads to leave the stage but, I kid you not, Elder is a young group of lads that currently cannot boast a grey hair between them, let alone wearing pixie hats and smelling of patchouli oil. What is the world coming to? I’ll tell you, with imagination and a feel for the music like this, the rock world could well be growing old with Elder.
The final band performing at Callosa & Roll is the melodic hard rock outfit Xstasy from Navarra.
All concerts commence at 21.30 and admission is a mere €5.
Tickets are available from entradium.com/entradas/callosanroll-reina-sofia#tickets or the venue box office.