ELEPHANZ "ELEPHANZ" LP

Description

At the time of tackling the challenge of the second album, the two Verleysen brothers did their best to escape the curse that says this is a difficult moment in a band’s life. Starting out with the idea of recording the follow-up to a first album, Time For a Change, unanimously praised, Elephanz preferred to take a detour. In the end, the band managed to achieve a much greater breakthrough than they had imagined. In trying to make the best record possible, the two brothers discovered a boldness they had not suspected at the outset. Physically exhausted by months on the road, they chose to isolate themselves and create. It was in winter, in a small apartment in Calvados, that the songs came to life. Rather than capitalizing on the success of their first album by multiplying contacts with outside producers and various people from the music business, it was as a duo, and exclusively as a duo, that they brought to a close a painful, long and complicated adventure, but one that was so rewarding in the end. The two brothers developed the bold sounds of songs already unforgettable. Dark music rich in new textures. Armed with new tools, including an easily backpack-portable analog keyboard, and numerous plug-ins, Elephanz built a new sound. With one constant concern: not to overload the songs unnecessarily. Demanding work of stripping things down that greatly guides the production of the tracks. In the mixing, Pierrick Devin brings a coherence that was lacking on a first album mixed on both sides. If they retained one lesson from their first record, it is this one: prioritize homogeneity above all else. As well as sharing the tasks. Maxime takes part here for the first time in writing the lyrics. With the touch that gives the Elephanz formula its singularity: luminous melodies, straight out of pop, in the service of lyrics that are often dark. An oxymoron that pays off once again, notably on the song The Catcher in the Rye, joyfully desperate. More restrained and serene than its predecessor, this new album relies on programmed drums that give the compositions a more inward, almost enigmatic feel. The duo’s careful production shrouds the songs in a mysterious veil that requires several listens before one can penetrate the density of the sounds deployed here. The guitars skim the walls, tortured by Jonathan who wanted to subject them to a thousand abuses rather than be satisfied with simple chord strums. On I Feel Love, a Vocoder even makes an appearance, which is no small surprise on an album that will make our melancholy dance all autumn long. For the first time, the band has decided to sing in the language of Etienne Daho. On a handful of tracks, Maxime and Jonathan make their carefully chosen words crackle with the finesse of our finest lyricists.