It would be easy to crack a joke about The Constellations being the brightest stars in the Atlanta music scene. The band is, after all, comprised entirely of members of well-known Atlanta bands, and the sound is sort of along the hip lines of Beck meets Gorillaz with sex appeal to spare.
Yes, it would be easy—easy and silly. But since front man Elijah Jones isn’t afraid to break that one out, no one else should be, especially considering it’s not far from the truth.
“We’re all basically members of different bands in Atlanta,” Jones says. “So, the idea of the project, The Constellations, is that stars combine to form constellations, with each band member being a star.”
The Constellations, at nine members strong, features musicians from Snowden, Ocha La Rocha, Second Shift and others. The single, “Felicia,” from their record, Southern Gothic (produced by Ben Allen of Gnarls Barkley fame, with songs featuring Cee-Lo and Asher Roth), has been in rotation on Atlanta radio station 99X. It’s a funky, keyboard-driven romp complete with a video depicting Jones as a geeky photographer who nonetheless scores a bevy of hotrod pin-up beauties. And the scoring bit is about right. If one thing’s for sure, it’s that The Constellations aren’t hurting for sexiness, and their high-wattage live shows won’t disappoint those looking for a sweaty good time. There’s a palpable energy in the air when these nine take the stage, and like the original intent of the record, there’s no real game plan except to have fun.
“I don’t know if we keep it together. We just do it,” Jones says. “That’s part of the energy of the group. With that energy, you can’t be in a bad mood.”
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