Artist: Elephant Revival
Album: Sands of Now
Label: United Artists/Itz Evolving Records
Release Date: 07/24/15
Among the many promising bands at the heart of the American roots music scene, there can be no question that Elephant Revival deserves to be at the very top of the heap. Gathering strands of influences from Celtic, folk, gypsy and blues, the quintet are so comfortable transcending categories that they freely delve deep into their own sound, evoking primordial landscapes and long-forgotten spirit worlds that seem somehow immediately familiar.
On Sands of Now, Elephant Revival serve up all of the energy of their live show with 19 songs split over a CD and a DVD. Interspersed in the set lists, recorded at the Boulder Theater over two nights, are eight new songs including the title track and the stunningly beautiful if haunting, ‘Echo’s Rose,’ which is accompanied on the DVD by acrobatic dancers. Vocalist Bonnie Paine, who also plays washboard, djembe, stomp box and the musical saw, recalls the arresting vibrato of Buffy Saint-Marie.
Although Elephant Revival spend most of their touring time around their home base of Colorado, they are also becoming fixtures at some of the top folk festivals of the east coast, having just appeared at the Newport Folk Festival as well as a few others. There is little doubt that they are only gaining speed as they continue to explore new musical ground and are already set to deliver a new studio album marking their 10th anniversary in 2016.
-Eric Russ
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