There was a time when a new release from any band connected to the Elephant 6 collective was greeted with excitement, but those days are long gone. And most of those bands are long gone too, but Elf Power have stuck around for 19 years now, releasing a new album every couple of years. These days, they are opening for their old pals Neutral Milk Hotel and trying to recapture some of their former glory.
The first half of Sunlight On The Moon reminds you of everything that made Elephant 6 music so good: the songs are understated, melodic with just the right amount of strangeness and quirk. There are some great moments. But then the second half does much to undermine those lovely fuzzy memories by sticking to those firmly engrained habits. It quickly turns into lo-fi jangly-psychedelia-by-numbers, and while it is pleasant enough, it wears kind of dull. All credit to Elf Power to managing to crank out as many albums as they have, but it appears that their best days are behind them.
(Orange Twin)The first half of Sunlight On The Moon reminds you of everything that made Elephant 6 music so good: the songs are understated, melodic with just the right amount of strangeness and quirk. There are some great moments. But then the second half does much to undermine those lovely fuzzy memories by sticking to those firmly engrained habits. It quickly turns into lo-fi jangly-psychedelia-by-numbers, and while it is pleasant enough, it wears kind of dull. All credit to Elf Power to managing to crank out as many albums as they have, but it appears that their best days are behind them.