Review Summary: Where no two songs sound the same.
Eye Alaska’s
Yellow and Elephant is a rather esoteric album. It’s apt that the mustard yellow cover sports a multi-trunked elephant, because in a way it’s exactly that. Trumpeted from each trunk are myriad of musical styles; alternative rock, pop, and even disco and jazz influences. It has the opportunity to be an unfocused and cumbersome beast if executed poorly, but Eye Alaska’s first effort is actually quite consistent in quality and while initially bizarre, eventually sheds that perception for something alluring and unique.
The undisputed high point of
Yellow and Elephant is the lead singer Brandon Wronski. His silky vocals are rich and full, more than competently capable of mastering the hushed, delicate moments of “A Storm in the Child’s Fountain” or passionately soaring in the mellow grooves of “Stop Me Now, I’m Not Ready.” The very first track of the album, “I Knew You’d Never Fly”, where after a gentle piano intro, catalogues Wronski’s submissive, mellifluous crooning before launching sky high into the chorus. There isn’t a single track where he takes a misstep, and every note is a delight. He arguably sounds most at home in “Through Willows and Streams,” where Brandon guides the tempo skilfully.
That’s not to say that the rest of the band isn’t proficient. The style and feel of each song is largely directed by the instruments and rolls out the sonic landscape for Wronski to frolic about like a carefree deer. It’s done so well that it can be easy to forget they’re there except for the fact that each song is rather different from one another. Striking piano, vivacious violins, an ever present bass line and even a jazz flute follow the multifaceted lead of the drums, which faithfully blend to control the variable styles on show.
The aforementioned violins are the most ubiquitous instrument chained throughout the album, but coupled with Wronski’s heartfelt, placating vocals, it electrically charges each song. The guitar pops its head up every now and then to add a complementary riff here and there, but it’s not the focal point like on so many alternative rock albums and its exclusion really fits the vision that Eye Alaska had for this album. It’s these little changes and additions that make
Yellow and Elephant a refreshing change of pace and gives each track a personality of its own.
As mentioned earlier, there is no track on
Yellow and Elephant that repeats itself in terms of genre, which makes for a jarring first listen. The Mae-like “I Knew You’d Never Fly”, the jaunty, sugary “Through Willows and Streams”, the smooth and subdued “Stop Me Now, I’m Not Ready” and “A Storm in the Child’s Fountain” all tweak the alternative rock sound, with the last track least affected. The ending song “Cheetah and the Tiger” departs completely from the rest of its siblings as a pure jazz song replete with a moody bass line and peppy flute, while at the centre of the album, “Roll Right Over” dives without warning into a warm disco/R&B vibe. This undoubtedly creates a vast sample of sounds, and while it keeps
Yellow and Elephant from becoming mired in tired repetitiveness, it also eliminates any chance for the album to flow smoothly.
This has the potential to make or break the album, and ultimately the enjoyment on the album will rest on its jack-of-all-trades approach and whether the listener can handle the morsels of separate genres on offer. Taken on their merits, there’s not one bad egg amongst
Yellow and Elephant and with that in mind, the seemingly haphazard experimentation can indeed become charming if you let it.
Going into
Yellow and Elephant with an open mind and the knowledge of its inconsistent styles will help alleviate its glaring eccentricities. It’s different, it’s strange, and the first few listens make it seem disjointed and distracted, but give it time, appreciate each track separately, and you’ll discover a charming little gem.
