Elliott

Song In The Air (Revelation)
by Tim Den

Hardcore bands have always had a hard time “progressing/maturing.” Elliott is a perfect example. As hard as they’ve tried, the band simply couldn’t get beyond writing songs within the confines of empty croons and one-dimensional structures. There were moments of deep spiritual awakening on their last full-length, False Cathedrals, but anyone who saw the band’s live show in Boston on that tour could tell you that there was more “eagerness to experiment” than actual success that night.

And Song in the Air is the confirmation that the band, sadly, have failed altogether. Struggling to get out of the debut’s (U.S. Songs) post-hardcore shadow, Song in the Air is the band going soooo out of their way to breathily sigh, sensitively pluck, and aimlessly drift in hopes of joining the Big Leagues of Britmope, that any and all pretense of craft and imagination has been left in the shiter. Obviously, more time was spent getting that perfect “atmospheric” sound than on a strong melody (guitarist/vocalist Chris Higdon has never been the most innovative of singers, but he completely phones it in here). Everyone knows you can’t polish a turd… The fact that the reception to this album has thus far been lukewarm at best pretty much says it all. It’s a shame that the band will now be remembered for such a lackluster swansong, because at one point, Elliott were once a vibrant, urgent, visceral force in the underground. Damn shame.
(PO Box 5232 Huntington Beach, CA 92615)