- 13
- 02
- 2020
- 07.30
- pm
Strange Days presents Elephant Stone
- £9.00
- Buy Tickets
Debuting a decade ago, the Polaris Music Prize-nominated psych-pop creation of Rishi Dhir (vox, bass, sitar) with long-time collaborators Miles Dupire (drums) and Gab Lambert (guitar) have released five critically-acclaimed albums and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. As a highly-regarded sitar player, Dhir has also collaborated with indie-rock icons (Beck) and legendary cult bands (The Brian Jonestown Massacre). Dhir is also a member of psyche-supergroup MIEN (ft. members of The Horrors, The Black Angels).
Released in 2009 on Dhir’s Elephants on Parade Records (EOP), The Seven Seas garnered wide-spread acclaim culminating with a Polaris Music Prize long-list nomination that acknowledges the best full-length Canadian album. Produced by Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes), the album introduced Elephant Stone’s innovative blend of rock ‘n’ roll, Hindustani classical music, and infectious pop. The 2010 follow up, The Glass Box EP, expanded on the spirited sounds of The Seven Seas. Following its release, the band set out on their first North American tour supporting the Brian Jonestown Massacre.
In 2013 Elephant Stone released their third LP, Elephant Stone. The album received critical acclaim from NPR, Brooklyn Vegan, Consequence of Sound, and other prominent media outlets. It also contained Dhir’s finest batch of songs yet:including singles “Heavy Moon” and “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin,” as well as the raga-drenched meditation, “A Silent Moment.” The band spent the next year touring throughout Europe and North America as a headliner and as support for The Zombies, The Black Angels (among others) and multiple festivals (Levitation Austin and France, Best Kept Secret, and so on).
A fourth album – The Three Poisons – followed in 2014. The darkly compelling and inventive album showcased Dhir’s lyrical exploration of Buddhist themes and The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Three Poisons remix album – ES3PRMX – appeared in 2015 as a digital download. Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tom Furse of The Horrors, Alex Maas of The Black Angels, Peter Holmström of The Dandy Warhols, and more contributed remixes.
In 2016 Elephant Stone released their fifth album, Ship of Fools, on Burger Records/EOP. Produced by Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire), the album received high marks across the board and spawned two singles that charted on Canadian commercial radio (“Andromeda” and Manipulator”).
Elephant Stone are back with their first new release in 3 years, “Land Of Dead”. Clocking in at just under two minutes, “Land Of Dead” begins with the haunting strums of a sitar and then dives headfirst into Paranoid-era Black Sabbath riffage with Dhir intoning of a “land of fire.”