elephant-stone-2014

Elephant Stone releasing 'The Three Poisons' (stream a track ++ European tour dates)

by Bill Pearis

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Montreal’s Elephant Stone are back with a new album, The Three Poisons, which will be out August 26 via Hidden Pony Records. (Pre-order.) Main man Rishi Dir tells how a an abandoned box of vinyl — full of treasures –informed the making of the new album:

What I found in that box was beyond anything I could have imagined. Yes, there was Echo’s “Songs to Learn & Sing”, but there was also a 12″ single release of the Happy Mondays “Step On” and “Kinky Afro”, Spaceman 3 “Recurring”, The Stone Roses “Waterfall” and “One Love”, New Order’s house masterpiece “Technique”, Ride’s “Today Forever”, and the list went on. I was dumbfounded as to why someone would abandon such treasure. Were they starting off the New Year by purging themselves of their material possessions? Payback from a wounded lover? Divine intervention? Whatever it was, I lucked out and began reacquainting myself with Shaun, Rowetta, J Spaceman, Sonic Boom, Ian, Bernard, Hooky, et al.

Fast forward a year later and the band is in deep, working on the follow-up to our self-titled 2013 release. I don’t think it was just me, but things felt different this time around. The grooves were groovier, the sonics rumbled heavier, and the songs were connecting to something bigger. It wasn’t until Malika Tirolien came in to record her inspired backing vocals for “Knock You From Yr Mountain” and “All Is Burning” that I reflected on that abandoned record collection I inherited and the trip it took me on. In that moment I heard the groove of the Mondays, the darkness of Echo, the jangle of Ride… but what I truly heard and felt coming together in these new batch of songs was–and is–unequivocally the sound of Elephant Stone.

You can stream The Three Poisons‘ title track and check out album art below.

Elephant stone will be heading to the UK and Europe this weekend for a month of touring, so if you live over that way, do check them out. No North American dates have been announced yet. All dates are listed, along with the new track stream, below…


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Elephant Stone – The Three Poisons tracklist
1. Motherless Child (Love’s Not For War)
2. Knock You From Yr Mountain
3. All is Burning
4. Worlds Don’t Begin And End With You
5. Wayward Son
6. Intermediate State
7. Child Of Nature (Om Namah Sivaya)
8. Living For Something
9. Three Poisons
10. Echo & The Machine
11. Between the Lines

Elephant Stone – 2014 Tour dates
WED 4 JUNE – VERA – Groningen, Netherlands
THU 5 JUNE – Pumpehuset – Copenhagen, Denmark with Real Estate
FRI 6 JUNE – Astra Stube – Hamburg, Germany
SAT 7 JUNE – Eindhoven Psych Lab 2014 – Eindhoven, Netherlands with Wooden Shjips, The Growlers, Disappears and more
MON 9 JUNE – Gullivers Bar – Manchester, UK
TUE 10 JUNE – Wharf Chambers – Leeds, UK
WED 11 JUNE – The Harley Hotel & Bar – Sheffield, UK
THU 12 JUNE – The Shacklewell Arms – London, UK with GRIMM GRIMM and Moksha Medicine
FRI 13 JUNE – Six D.o.g.s – Athens, Greece
SAT 14 JUNE – Clockwork Castle Fest 2014 – Arta, Greece
TUE 17 JUNE – Circolo degli Artisti – Rome, Italy
WED 18 JUNE – Hana-bi, Ravenna, Italy – Ravenna, Italy
THU 19 JUNE – Blue Lezard – Lausanne, Switzerland
FRI 20 JUNE – La Mécanique Ondulatoire – Paris, France
SAT 21 JUNE – Fete de la musique 2014 – Namur, Belgium
SUN 22 JUNE – Best Kept Secret Festival 2014 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands with Franz Ferdinand, Pixies, Lykke Li and more…