Elephant Stone
Ship of Fools

Elephant Stone, the project that Rishi Dhir has been pursuing since 2009, has always been something of an enigma for me. Every time, I don't know what to expect. Since their debut, their first LP, 'The Seven Seas', a psychedelic music album that I really appreciated a lot, the group has continuously experimented in different directions and modified their sound and style multiple times (something that, to be honest, Rishi was already doing back in the days of the High Dials, with results not always excellent). The two subsequent LPs, 'Elephant Stone' and especially 'The Three Poisons' (which I consider a total failure), were consequently two albums full of contradictions in which, to be fair, it's practically impossible to find a common sense, some logical thread that holds all the songs within the album together. Obviously, I'm not saying with this that every record must be a kind of 'concept album'. I don't care about that nonsense. What I mean is that this band, in these works, wasn't able to express any identity whatsoever. It's not so much a question of the quality of the songs; some are good, others not, but the truth is simply that Rishi and his companions had no idea where they were heading.

Hold on now. Before introducing the new album, let me say that, apart from everything I've said, I consider Rishi Dhir, first and foremost, a nice person. I've met him in person; clearly, we didn't talk for a long time, but he was very friendly and cordial, and this already might be enough to qualify him positively as far as I'm concerned. But what I want to say is that aside from this, we are talking about an excellent musician and multi-instrumentalist full of brilliant ideas who is well-regarded and has collaborated with artists such as Anton Newcombe and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Dandy Warhols, Beck, the Horrors, the Black Angels (by the way, Alex Maas sings on this album, in the song 'The Devil's Shelter').

Originally from Montreal, Canada, but of evident Indian origins, Rishi is an excellent sitar, dilruba, and harmonium player, and in his compositions, he often uses all these instruments along with the tablas, trying to contextualize their use within the psychedelic genre to create something very effective. Even if now it's difficult to define Elephant Stone as a psychedelic band through and through, it was fundamental in exploring Indian music while also drawing inspiration from classic British psychedelia groups of the sixties.

However, the point, as already mentioned, is that Elephant Stone is no longer a group fundamentally inspired by sixties psychedelia, Indian culture, and is no longer the group that took its name from a Stone Roses song. Elephant Stone today is something completely different, and in this sense, it can perhaps be said that the changes, the attempts at change in the last two records, have perhaps been successful in some way. If we want to define it that way. In fact, it seems that Rishi Dhir, guitarist Gabriel Lambert, and drummer Miles Dupire-Gagnon have finally achieved their own style and in some way also original and possibly 'winning'.

Preceded by an EP, 'Little Ship of Fools', containing four songs subsequently included in the LP, Elephant Stone released their latest album last September 16. For now available only in digital format, 'Ship of Fools' will be available in 'physical' formats starting November 25 via Burger Records.

'Ship of Fools' is a complex album, inspired by different musical genres, this probably also due to Rishi Dhir's many and varied experiences and collaborations over the years, although I believe the dominant choice in this case was for the group to distance itself from the psychedelic genre to create something more current. Something at the same time more 'commercial' but also experimental and engaging.

It is no coincidence in this sense that the album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Marcus Paquin, known for working with popular indie-rock bands like Arcade Fire and the National, and the man who guided Rishi Dhir (author of all the songs) and the others during the creation of this album, finally leading them to achieve their aims.

I listened to the album many times before writing about it. The fact is it seemed that I couldn't really grasp its contents. As if I didn't understand, or as if I didn't want to accept the evidence: Elephant Stone is today a pop band. An experimental pop band, for sure, also influenced by what they have done previously, but still a pop band using lots of things like drum loops and synthesizers.

They have embarked on a path already taken by other bands in the last ten years, like Strokes, Kasabian, Tame Impala, groups that certainly have and achieved considerably more success than Elephant Stone, and which have also changed their sound, shifting the balance from what could have been more rock sounds to a more electronic and pop dimension. This also happens in ‘The Ship of Fools’. From the first track, the single that preceded the album's release, 'Manipulator', we immediately deal with an attractive sound where flashy and 'dazzling' electric guitars and synthesizers dominate everything else. Not forgetting the massive use of choruses and refrains. A constant throughout the album. Listen, for example, to 'See the Light', 'The Devil's Shelter'.

Significant within the album as a whole is the contribution of vocalist Malika Tirolien, who practically sings in 'Manipulator' and also in 'Where I’m Going' and 'Cast the First Stone', songs heavily influenced by certain music from the eighties, and 'Run, Sister, Run' (which in some passages made me think of the Pet Shop Boys!) and is practically the dominant voice in 'Love Is Like A Spinning Wheel', a song that about thirty years ago could very well have been a hit and topped all the charts. A song that could probably bring Bernie Sumner and Peter Hook together. I mean, practically the only thing that would bring them together today.

'Andromeda' is probably the most elaborate song on the album, an experimental psychedelic ballad with electronic music inserts and Shawn Mativetsky's contribution on the tablas. Instrumentation also used in 'Silence Can Say So Much', where Beatles influences are evident, and which opens with the use of sitar and tablas to later expand into a sort of cosmic dimension.

The album, however, closes with 'Au Gallis', written by Rishi Dhir with Gabriel Lambert and sung by the latter, a mix of experimental drone music with electronic Daft Punk-style suggestions. Something that's really complicated to explain in words and perhaps doesn't even make much sense, so I refer you directly to listening to the album.

There are indeed a lot of ideas in 'Ship of Fools', a title that might be misleading and make one think of the Doors, but clearly, here there are good and bad ideas, but frankly none attributable to Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, and the others. It’s an album I would describe as sophisticated and chic, which has had good reviews and appreciation even in popular magazines like 'Rolling Stone', and which could introduce Rishi Dhir and the band to a new dimension, giving them a greater following than in the past. I don't know. Surely it's an album that I am incapable of fully appreciating. I like the fact they experimented a lot; they really questioned themselves trying to do something original not just for themselves but in general. They might have tried to do something completely new, even trying to mix world music and pop music in a different way, but the result, in the end, isn't as original as they might have hoped. But here, I sense it has less to do with their limitations and skills, and perhaps simply the fact that you can't expect to be original and easy-listening at the same time, while also trying to do something innovative and 'experimental'. Oh, well. Maybe it's possible. I don't know. I don't have statistics on hand, but I think it happens rarely. In any case, I believe that you can’t always have everything, and for my part, I'm sorry, I think I'm too raw and rough and too unsophisticated for all this. I don't have the right outfit.