Elephant Tree Release Track by Track Benefit EP
What might seem like a toss-off release, Track by Track is a fairly consequential nine minutes of music from London’s Elephant Tree. The two-song offering was recorded at Sonic Whip Festival this past Spring in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and even apart from its serving as a means of raising money for Ukrainian aid organizations, the versions of “The Fall Chorus” and “Sails” that appear — both taken from 2020’s Habits (review here) — find the band actively branching out their sound, incorporating for the first time cello and violin in this material on a public release.
I’ll tell you the same thing I told guitarist/vocalist Jack Townley when I got the tracks: It really, really works. “The Fall Chorus” is a quieter song, has more space for the strings to really shine, but even in “Sails” they add to the impact of the harmonized chorus and the post-guitar-solo ending section, working off and in response to the riff that culminates Habits‘ opening statement.
They’ve got a new outing in the previously announced PostWax split with Lowrider (info here), but in thinking about the inevitable third album they’ll likely take on at some point thereafter, it would be a missed opportunity for Elephant Tree not to explore this dynamic in a studio setting, and in terms of their songwriting, there’s a big difference in terms of factoring arrangement elements like this beforehand rather than after the material is done. Either way they go ultimately, the fact that they’re expanding their sound bodes well.
Track by Track credits, info, a comment from the band, cover art, links, blah blah blah all follow, as per the PR wire:
Elephant Tree – Track by Track
Track by Track is a two part taster of Elephant Tree’s performance at the 2022 edition of Sonic Whip Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The band have released the pair of tracks through their Bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want download, with all proceeds going towards the ongoing humanitarian effort in Ukraine.
Band statement:
“We obviously feel strongly about the ongoing war in Ukraine, as anyone should, and thought that it was only right to carry on supporting our friends and the people of Ukraine as best we could. Jack came up with the idea of creating a short snippet of some live tracks and pairing with an artist to make something that people could enjoy as well as donating to some great causes. Pairing with David Frankum, Track By Track was born. Hopefully we also keep the awareness up over what is happening over there still and some people feel inspired to continue to help in other ways. This is also the first time a lot of people will be hearing the inclusion of our string section as part of a live performance!”
We are planning to put the proceeds towards the charities listed on our page here: https://elephanttree.band/ukraine
Release date: 15/07/2022
Platform: Bandcamp
Credits:
Emelyn Spiers – Live Sound
Jack Townley – Mixing/Mastering Engineer
Artwork: David Frankum
Elephant Tree:
Jack Townley – Vocal/Guitar
Peter Holland – Vocal/Bass
John Slattery – Vocal/Guitar/Synth
Sam Hart – Drums
With:
Joe Butler – Cello
Charlie Davis – Violin
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