Elephant Stone – ‘The Three Poisons’ (2014)
Has it crossed your mind that the current psych scene has gotten rather dark as of late, rather inwardly spiraling, nearly forgetting its brilliant lysergic genesis, where the colours had sound, and the sound produced colours, where magic was in the air, where the universe was both endless and boundless, along with the shifting patterns spread out across oriental carpets that caused waves to lap at your feet, allowing you to feel free and unfeathered. That’s the psych scene that I remember.
These pastural concepts are what sets Elephant Stone apart from the current state of most neo-psychedelic music, in that they’ve been able to capture and conjure not only the heart of the 60’s, but have managed to update the sound in manner that bespeaks all that was at the core of Flower Power. Three Poisons continues the course Elephant Stone established several albums ago, with beauty and blending mixing with discovery, and an artistic sense of well being through the infusion of East meets West musical attitudes, along with the assumption that the likeminded will find each other once again, causing the walls begin to splinter and crack.
This is an album of philosophy not religion, though the title Three Poisons was inspired from the Buddhist notion that ignorance, attachment, and aversion are the primary causes that keep us trapped in a continual loop of unhappiness … an aspect that I am sure most psychiatrists would agree with, strongly suggesting that the album is about freedom and expansion; whether chemically induced, or realized through study.
But let me not forget the musical landscape … it’s first rate and very satisfying, an adventure that continues Elephant Stone’s saga with Dylanesque songs of protest and redemption that merge with blissful Pink Floyd, where they weave a common thread that holds everything together in a most underestimated and casual manner. And all of this causes me to long dearly for those heady nights, where all was fresh, and the world was ours for the saving. Ah … but that would mean I’ve succumb to poison number two, attachment. So let me just say that I was glad to have come of age during the 60’s, and I’m very glad to be here now with Elephant Stone riding in my back pocket.
– Jenell Kesler
Elephant Stone – ‘The Three Poisons’ (Hidden Poni Records, 2014)
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