Elan Vital (CD)
The Seattle quintet's follow-up to the universally acclaimed The New Romance, and their first album since the addition of keyboardist Leona Marrs, is by far their most ambitious, multifarious, and scorching to date. Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Destroyer), Elan Vital provides the band with a bigger, bolder canvas with which to weave their magic. The new material, road-tested at gigs around the globe with Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and Death Cab For Cutie, shows a blindingly original American band who are improving with each successive album.
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | |
| 1 | The Nocturnal House |
| 2 | Pyrite Pedestal |
| 3 | The Number |
| 4 | Parade |
| 5 | Domino |
| 6 | . |
| 7 | The Magic Hour |
| 8 | Selling the Wind |
| 9 | Pearls on a Plate |
| 10 | Pictures of a Night Scene |
| 11 | Wildcat |
| 12 | Bullet Charm |
| Michelle S.
- Akron, OH, |
| You would think this album was born after stumbling upon an assortment of instruments and riffs and deciding that they all blended well together. While is does kind of work, Elan Vital is still somewhat a concept that took off and didn't receive the attention to detail that it deserved. It's a good set of ideas, but it seems like something's missing- be it a melodic line, an instrument, or a good producer.
And yet. The dark, clamoring undertones, the desperate, nasal vocals and mixed electronic view make it worthy of a listen. | |
| Michael Britten
- Keansburg, NJ, USA |
| Élan Vital's shortcomings aren't simply a matter of bait-and-switch, but rather too many simultaneous sidesteps from the get-go; "The Nocturnal House" would hit the mark if Andrea Zollo's passionate delivery of the chorus was the only attempt at differentiating the song from prior jaunts, but its slow pacing and heavy use of reverb makes it an opener you have to trudge through, as opposed to one that really sucks you in. "Domino" instantly hit me as copping The Gossip's sound, albeit it without as much flair, force, or sweat (insert your best Beth Ditto remark here). A similar argument buries "The Magic Hour", a song that, although lowering the tempo, could have succeeded had the featured players amped-up the intensity. Instead, soaked in effects and blurry production (read: bogged down), Zollo does her best siren instead of her trademark harpy, and the guitar, while holding a larger role than on other songs, never seizes the control it needs to. The appearance of accordion on "Selling The Wind" is an interesting variation, at least, but why?
No one's going to throw a fit over a desire to grow, but without proper explanations (or rewarding results), Pretty Girls Make Graves simply can't sustain the attention of the all-adoring fans that held their first two albums in such high regard. Élan Vital isn't a train wreck -- the band member's respective talents are enough to hold things together -- but with so many unnecessary embellishments and deviations converging all at once, it could easily be described as a pile-up. Those kinds of accidents can usually be avoided when everyone's paying attention, and as with the audiences that often taken them in, disinterest is about all that's awarded. For a band that once channeled the spirit of disaffected youth, but with remarkable maturity and aptitude, Élan Vital, for the most part, comes off as the exact opposite: a sedated, too-young attempt at sounding more refined. | |
| George Sutton
- East Quogue, NY, USA |
| The first time I listened to this record straight through, I was really impressed. And the more I listened to it, the more it kept on going down hill. The main thing I really have a problem with is the production. I think they should have kept that crisp, clean sound like they had on ''The New Romance.'' And most of the songs lack that sense of urgency that they had in the past. I'm somewhat disappointed in this one, but they're still a great band, especially live. Buy their other records first, if you don't have them already. | |
| Nick Fletcher
- Lakewood, CO, USA |
| Elan Vital is somewhat of a mixed bag - but not a bad bag to have (as bags or music go). It seems more like a demonstration of the band's musical scope (which is indeed vast - especially with the addition of a keyboardist), and less like a cohesive album. Indeed, faithful PGMG listeners may question whether they are listening to the same band when they hear tracks like ''Parade'' and ''Selling the Wind,'' but none of the new directions that PGMG tread are completely unsuccessful. PGMG have from the beginning made it evident that they are not content to stand still, and this album shows just that. Elan Vital serves as a tantalizing prelude to future works, and an admirable effort that isn't short of highlights (''Nocturnal House,'' ''Pyrite Pedestal,'' ''The Magic Hour'' & ''Pearls on a Plate'' especially). | |
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| Abraham Sohn
- Chicago, IL, US |
| The newest album from Pretty Girls Make Graves is more of the same stuff that they have been producing. Their past albums have been exciting and inventive, so this is not really a bad thing. However, much of what we're hearing now seems trite and a bit old. The occasional expansion of their sound feels forced and rigid. I saw them live with Franz Ferdinand, after which I was very excited about their new album. Now, it seems they could have done a lot more. | |
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