Hibernation Is Over
Elf Power Reemerges with In a Cave
originally published March 26, 2008
Though never as high-profile as luminaries Olivia Tremor Control or Neutral Milk Hotel during the Elephant 6 heyday of the late ‘90s, Elf Power has shown that unlike those now-departed groups, it’s got staying power. This week the local band celebrates the release of its new album In a Cave, the latest in a series of records to showcase frontman Andrew Rieger’s reliable literacy in psychedelicized, ‘60s- and ‘70s-informed rock. In a Cave also introduces former Olivia Tremor Control drummer Eric Harris to the band’s lineup, and he shares songwriting credit with Rieger on a number of mind-warping tracks.
The current lineup of Elf Power features Rieger on vocals and rhythm guitar, Jimmy Hughes on guitar, Derek Almstead on bass, Laura Carter on accordion and keys and Heather McIntosh on cello (though Carter and McIntosh are not heading out on tour with the band).
In a Cave is a rich and suitably layered release, as rewarding both on the headphones as its songs are in a live setting. Rieger credits sound engineer Derek Almstead - also Elf Power’s current bassist - with the quality of the recordings. "Derek’s real easy to work with, and since he’s in the band it’s, y’know, that much easier," he says. "I think it sounds really great.”
Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, it’s a brisk runthrough touching on the vibrant guitar rock of Elf Power’s often-cited T. Rex influence.
And while a few of the songs don’t change the Rieger template too much, (“Paralyzed,” “The New Mythology” and “Quiver and Quake” in particular share moods, melodies and guitar riffs with past Elf Power songs), others signpost possible directions of exploration for the band. So while one foot remains in familiar territories, the band’s stepping forward into new sounds (dig the aural experimentation on tracks like “Heads of Dust, Hearts of Lust” or the woozy mechanizations on “Window to Mars”). Much of that experimentation comes via Harris’ contributions, and his employment of his tape organ, an instrument he invented back in the ‘90s for his album The Frosted Ambassador and for use in the band Music Tapes. It’s a keyboard that’s linked to a number of pre-recorded tapes that play a recording of an instrument - a cello drone, or a trumpet note, for instance. When triggered, the tape organ sends out a warbly, otherworldly and distinctly psychedelic sound.
Rieger says he was always a fan of The Frosted Ambassador, and so once Harris settled into the drummer’s seat (after the departure last year of drummer Josh Lott) Rieger approached him to see if he’d want to contribute some sounds. “I always loved that record,” says Rieger, “and I knew that he recorded stuff at home all the time, but he hadn’t released anything since then. So I asked him if there was anything he’d been working on that he was willing to share with the band, and he made me a CD of instrumentals. I picked out like four of them.”
The tape organ won’t show up in the band’s live set, though, says Elf Power guitarist Jimmy Hughes. “We’ve stepped around that,” he says. “We have a lot of different sounds that we need to encompass into one instrument, so that’s something that’ll get put into the keyboard setup.”
Harris’s tape organ compositions also allowed Rieger to experiment with a different style of songwriting. On a 12-hour drive to his mother’s house in Louisiana last summer, Rieger says, he listened to almost nothing but Harris’s tracks, coming up with vocal melodies and lyrics as he sped down the highway. “It probably wasn’t the safest thing, but I was scrawling down lyrics as I was driving,” he says. “That was definitely a different way for me to approach songwriting, ‘cause I usually just write by myself on acoustic [guitar].”
One of In a Cave’s most gripping songs is “Fried Out,” a lament for a friend whose potential seems to have withered under the pressure of... drugs? life? stress? The specifics aren’t mapped out, though it’s a story that shouldn’t be unfamiliar to too many Athenians, where it’s far too easy for people to fade into a stoned background rather than push themselves forward. “It’s not really an anti-drug song or anything. It’s more just an observation and a concern over certain behaviors that you see in friends or people you know,” says Rieger. The song is also representative of Rieger’s shift over the past few albums to incorporate more overtly personal writing into his lyrics, rather than relying solely on fantastic imagery.
The band ventured out to Texas two weeks ago to perform a number of sets at the South By Southwest festival, but this 40 Watt show officially kicks off the band’s first national tour in support of In a Cave. “Once we start the tour it’ll have been about a year since we’ve done something big,” says Rieger. “It’s always nice to take some time off, but I definitely feel like it’s time to do something big and get back on the road.”
Elf Power’s current tour runs through the end of April, with the band heading up the Eastern Seaboard, shooting across the northern part of the States, hitting Seattle and Portland, heading south to California and then back eastward. A tour of Europe this summer is in the works, and then Elf Power has plans to tour as Vic Chesnutt's backing band this fall - the band recently recorded an album with the Athens songwriting legend, but it won’t be out for several months.
Saturday’s 40 Watt show is a later one - The Moldy Peaches’ Kimya Dawson headlines a separate, all-ages 6 p.m. show the same day, so things won’t start until about 10:30 or 11 p.m. Ham 1 and Madeline open.
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