Shaman Elephant
Crystals
Karisma Records
2016
I had a first taste of what would follow, when I read the band’s name “Shaman Elephant” and saw the trippy cover artwork. My mind “travelled” back to the 70s but I wasn’t sure of what I was going to listen to. You see Shaman Elephant is a newcomer from Bergen, Norway, and they only released a digital 3-track EP in 2015. “Crystals” is their debut full-length album and it is the album which will introduce them to the rock fans globally by hook or by crook.
Shaman Elephant seem to fancy the late 60s & early 70s trippy psychedelic prog rock music. Add to that some jazz/rock, jazz/fusion and several improvisations and you get a fine idea about the band’s music. They have studied really well the music of that era and they are presenting their personal music album without trying to imitate or to rip-off the bands of the specific era. Their production is a bit “old-school” but with a today’s twist, without becoming “retro” just for the sake of it. At times, I thought that I was listening to a band from the early 70s but the good sound gave away that this ain’t an “old” band. The vocalist’s, Eirik Sejersted Vognstølen, “pipes” brought the singers of the 70s in mind, who could actually sing and they were another good reason to listen to a band apart from the musical part.
I’m sure that “Crystals” will “urge” some psych/prog rock fans to “dig out” some old vinyls from their basement and give them a spin. And that’s the good thing about this album. It can bring back some truly good old “buried” memories from an era that “marked” music once and for all. But this ain’t just it. Shaman Elephant have the potential to go further and release even better albums that this one, cuz they play from the heart and they are totally into it. Do listen to “Crystals” if you like the psychedelic prog rock music of the early 70s…
Shaman Elephant seem to fancy the late 60s & early 70s trippy psychedelic prog rock music. Add to that some jazz/rock, jazz/fusion and several improvisations and you get a fine idea about the band’s music. They have studied really well the music of that era and they are presenting their personal music album without trying to imitate or to rip-off the bands of the specific era. Their production is a bit “old-school” but with a today’s twist, without becoming “retro” just for the sake of it. At times, I thought that I was listening to a band from the early 70s but the good sound gave away that this ain’t an “old” band. The vocalist’s, Eirik Sejersted Vognstølen, “pipes” brought the singers of the 70s in mind, who could actually sing and they were another good reason to listen to a band apart from the musical part.
I’m sure that “Crystals” will “urge” some psych/prog rock fans to “dig out” some old vinyls from their basement and give them a spin. And that’s the good thing about this album. It can bring back some truly good old “buried” memories from an era that “marked” music once and for all. But this ain’t just it. Shaman Elephant have the potential to go further and release even better albums that this one, cuz they play from the heart and they are totally into it. Do listen to “Crystals” if you like the psychedelic prog rock music of the early 70s…