(photo: Liam Maloney)

I don’t think you can ever go wrong with jangle pop.  Especially when it’s done immaculately, jangle pop is just the epitome of all that’s good and lovely in the world of music.  You could sing teh daftest, darkest, direst of lyrics, but if it’s set to a chiming guitar and taunt rhythm section it will sound like a breath of fresh air.

I don’t get to hear a lot of great guitar pop bands these days, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover Elephant Stone, the latest musical creation of x-High Dial Rishi Dhir.  He decided to leave The High Dials back in ‘06, and ventured out on a musical journey of self-examining that honed his Indian classical music chops, and lent his sitar-playing skills to a number of other artists’ projects.  Eventually, he realized that through his own songwriting he had amassed a pretty decent-sized songbook, and so the idea behind Elephant Stone was born.

The Seven Seas was produced by Jace Lasek (of The Besnard Lakes) and features Dhir on vocals, bass, sitar, and guitar, along with Bobby Fraser on keyboards, Robbie MacArthur on guitar and bass, Stephen Venkatarangam on  guitar, sitar, and flute, Richard White on guitar, and Chris Wise on drums.  The collective calls to mind some classic British guitar pop bands like The Kinks, and The Jam, throwing in a does of the North American variety (a la Big Star and Sloan), plus the modern psychedelic pop of bands like The Charlatans, Teenage Fanclub and The Stone Roses, whose third single was named “Elephant Stone”.  More than just a tribute or karaoke version of the Mancunians, Dhir’s Elephant Stone blend their Western influences with the classical sounds of Indian music to create their own unique vision of jangle pop. You can stream the entire album now via the band’s Myspace page.

MP3: Elephant Stone “The Seven Seas”
Facebook: Elephant Stone
Myspace: Elephant Stone