The Three Poisons

Elephant Stone

Hidden Pony Records, 2014

http://www.elephantstonemusic.com

REVIEW BY: Vish Iyer

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/26/2014

For a band that is named after a Stone Roses song, Elephant Stone might not be the type of group that one might assume, especially since it is so easy to be typecast in the current wave of ‘80s comeback in which almost every band seems like an offshoot of some other act. There is in fact absolutely nothing similar between The Stone Roses and this Montreal-based outfit, except for the connection that each band has with the ‘60s.

That decade is tattooed in Elephant Stone’s DNA, and my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 The Three Poisons provides one hell of a ride through this musical era. Of all the albums trying to recreate the ‘60s, this is probably one of the most groovy and vibrant.

Elephant Stone classifies themselves as spearheading the “Hindie-Rock movement,” defined by the band as “the ability of weaving together rock ‘n’ roll, Hindustani classical, and catchy-as-all-hell pop,” which couldn’t be more accurate of a description of their music. Band frontman Rishi Dhir is a sitar player, and the album has a good share of sitar playing – not to mention that it is rife with Indian themes. 

But The Three Poisons isn’t some sort of a hideous mishmash of Indian classical and rock ‘n’ roll. This album approaches this strange marriage of the two diametrically opposite musical styles with the same degree of class and refinement as Kula Shaker and their path-breaking effort K in particular, and it’s a band that Elephant Stone has a strong stylistic resemblance to. 

As much as The Three Poisons is a rock ‘n’ roll album, it also aspires to be a pop album – which it is, and a great one, too, with its “catchy-as-all-hell” songs. This is also because the band doesn’t take themselves too seriously and tries to have fun with their music. This would explain the insane sitar playing on this album on tracks like “Motherless Child” and “Knock You From Your Mountain,” which might seem abhorrent to connoisseurs of Hindustani classical, but sounds so damn cool otherwise.

It is this nonchalance of the band and the ease with which Dhir and his fellow bandmates pull it off that make you say “Wow! That’s some kickass shit!” Absolutely!

Rating: A

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


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