A Picture Of The Three Of Us At The Gate To The Garden Of Eden

Jesse Elliott's ultra articulate stroke of psych folk, A Picture of the Three of Us will take a while to completely digest - always a nice change of pace from simpler, immediate announcements like, 'hey, here we are, and here is what we do, you dig?' No, Elliott and his mega band (he called upon some 30 D.C area musicians to lend a helping hand in recording the 36 minute album) crisscross plenty of ground on this debut. Ticking off genres, These United States paint a bold checkmark in the columns of pop, folk, rock, country, jazz, and lounge and further listens are sure to reveal plenty more. Then there is the dense penmanship of Elliott himself - kind of gives Andrew Bird or Destroyer a run for their money in that department, if you ask me.