Elf Power
"Creatures"
( spinART)

Is this the new trend in naming bands? Send "power" to the people? In the 70s, Germany gave us the startlingly innovative Kraftwerk (translates to "power station" in English.) The English decided to return the favor in the 80s with the execrable Power Station (not surprisingly, it translates to "kraftwerk" in German.) Having exhausted that meager vein, in the 90s Chan Marshall began using the moniker Cat Power to showcase her unsettling songs. Much fanfare and critical acclaim ensued. Surprisingly, none of these acts have ever veered into power-pop territory. Or maybe that would be too obvious. Not as well known however, has been the Athens, GA aggregation Elf Power. Linked to the seemingly infinite Elephant 6 collective (Apples In Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beulah, and a Cecil B. DeMille cast of thousands) Elf Power has quietly carved out an almost decade long career. Obscurity be damned, this band can play with the best of them! Touches of the usual influences (Neil Young, Kinks, Pixies, Flaming Lips) fleck the album. Still, there is the sense that something truly new and different is being created here. (However, the melody from "Things That Should Not Be" sounds like a sped up version of Goffin and King's "Wasn't Born To Follow" and "The Creature Part II" could have been lifted from a Club 8 record.) An impeccable sense of melody and dramatic timing abounds. The whole thing sounds vaguely Irish to me (think early to mid-period Pogues only without all the world music influences.) If this is what "lo-fi" is passing for in 2002, I can't complain. The careful detail serve to enhance and distinguish the songs, instead of sounding fussy and meddlesome like on so many other folk's records. Engineer Andy Baker gets a gold star for breathing vibrant life into the sparse instrumentation. The result is an album full of life, given enough space to breath. The songs slither and snake gracefully across the grooves, growing more potent on repeated listens. I think this is a good party record, although I suppose it would all depend on what type of party that you're having. So go ahead and warble drunkenly and stomp about the room, Elf Power has got your back.

-Chris