Twenty-four hours ago, in the far, far away galaxy of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the latest album from psychedelic electronica guru Elephant Skeletons was conceived in a UFO somewhere above Peggy’s Cove. The end result, Sleep, was beamed down onto our doorstep before immediately ejecting itself from its pod, after which it attempted communication with us in each of its six different languages. Given that we’re neither xenobiologists nor xenolinguists, all we know for sure is that the sounds this album makes are not of this world, but as connoisseurs of the arts, we can readily identify these sounds as a very trippy and most-excellent experience.
Seven years of concentrated effort in the genre has certainly paid off; each track boasts an element of urgency that’s sure to suck you into the world that Elephant Skeletons has created, to say nothing of the expertly and uniquely crafted synths, each blending together flawlessly.
A dark, mysterious haste presents itself in an extremely fluid manner as well. “Sleep” uses a faster pace and growling vocoder vocals to give the feeling of tearing down a highway in your cyberpunk dream machine. “Awake Alright” utilizes longer notes and deeper drums to give us the impression of marveling at this enormous entity that’s bigger than us all. “Blindfold,” with its more retro lineup of synths, would make an excellent background tune to someone navigating this very entity.
The album plays with a dream theme; constantly toying with the idea that our subconscious states are destinations that we should strive to not only acknowledge, but to strive for. “Lullaby” in particular is a paramount example, where an entrancing, almost ominous message can be heard after making our way through the static storm that occupies the latter half of the track.
“With the world getting increasingly strange and uncertain I thought it was the right time to just put it out there,” says Cliff Doucette, the mastermind behind Elephant Skeletons. “In a time where most of us are stuck in our homes and felling tense I think it’s more important than ever for artists to keep sharing their art.”
“I know the art and music I’m seeing flowing out from everyone right now fills me inspiration and hope for a brighter future.”