Elephant Hawk Release Debut Single “Non Grata Revisited”
I guess this is the kind of thing you can do when you have your own actual-studio and the barest smidgen of restless downtime. Comprised of the duo of Esben Willems, drummer for Monolord, and Marcus Lilja, also of the experimental Eyemouth, the new project Elephant Hawk has unveiled its first single, “Non Grata Revisited.” Recorded of course at Gothenburg, Sweden’s Studio Berserk, it isn’t the first collaboration between the two, who in May worked together with Here Lies Man‘s Geoff Mann on the aptly-titled “Transatlantic Explorations” (posted here). Aside from the duo format, the key difference between Elephant Hawk — who for sure are not to be mistaken for Elephant Tree, Freedom Hawk, or Freedom Tree, the latter of whom probably exist somewhere — is the focus on synth drone and the fact that Willems adds vocals over top.
In terms of delivery, Willems‘ singing might put one in mind of Steve Von Till in some of his outside-Neurosis solo work, and the textures accompanying the verses — noise made by Lilja, mixed/mastered by Willems — work in three dimensions to establish the atmosphere. Given the moniker, the cover art (which is cool, please know that I’m not knocking it) and the fact that they put it on Bandcamp with minimal advance hype, they seem to be sort of feeling their way into position as outliers in a heavy underground given to riffier and more straightforward songwriting — which certainly might come; universe of infinite possibilities and all that — and “Non Grata Revisited” has the ambient spread to get them there. What it might herald, if anything, is a concern for another time. Like the Willems Lilja Mann track in Spring, this is just interesting stuff being done by cool artists who are very clearly looking to expand their palette and creative reach. If you can’t get down with that, I’ve got nothing for you.
The social post and the info from Willems‘ Bandcamp follow here, but of course the point is the song itself, which is at the bottom of the post where those things go according to the long-established/completely arbitrary rules about how I organize these posts. Enjoy:
ELEPHANT HAWK – Non Grata Revisited
Esben here. We just released our debut song with our sudden new project Elephant Hawk, being Bandcamp Friday and all. Music by Marcus Lilja, vocals, mix and master by me.
Hope you like it.
Artwork by Error! Design
Elephant Hawk are:
Marcus Lilja – Modular synths
Esben Willems – Vocals, mix, master
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095139416618
https://esbenwillems.bandcamp.com/
http://fb.me/studioberserk/
https://www.instagram.com/studioberserksweden/
https://www.etsy.com/se-en/shop/happyberserk
https://happyhelmet.se/
https://linktr.ee/studioberserk
