Album Reviews: Sleigh Bells, Elton John & Brandi Carlile, Casper Skulls

Sleigh Bells – Bunky Becky Birthday Boy
Brooklyn

In their search to find the next step since their debut, Sleigh Bells always made sure their production remained a fierce signature. But interestingly, it’s by adding their modernistic touches to date while bringing everything back to that starting voice, they’ve found a record that while not always firing on all cylinders, is the most dynamic their sound’s been in years. Opening their latest album on a blend of hyperpop, ballistic drum barrages and their usual blown-guitars, Sleigh Bells have refocused their aim somewhere more futuristic on “Bunky Pop.” To this end “Wanna Start a Band?” is focused chaos, though often to the point of being so discordant and slow-moving that it doesn’t really craft a strong core. Luckily, “This Summer” adjusts the composition, and let’s the synths accent the punchy guitars in just the right way that this track lashes out with growls coloured with neon, and all the band’s signature harmonic cries for a powerful anthem. The strongest collision of new and old visions of the band’s sound lands on “Badly,” with its thrashing chorus rising in flames thanks to how ecstatically catchy every vocal riff is, as the whole production is overflowing with the frantic excitement of their early work, and brings that dangerous party rock they once promised.

The Pink Elephants – SUN RAH OM INFERNO (Single)
Ottawa

Like a howling giant beast across the plains, The Pink Elephants’ latest single bears the sound of destruction in its searing guitars. Constructed with Isaiah Mitchell from Earthless, the track is a sprawling run of desolation, with every beat and rising guitar effect emulating a torrent of rubble and soaring might in its psych rock charge. Taking a kind of extended solo/bridge approach in its droning front, the track never lets up in the intensity of this heat,  leaving you awestruck in its wake.

Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Who Believes in Angels?
Pinner, England/Ravensdale, WA)

Brandi Carlile does the nearly impossible on this collaboration with Elton John, she gets a legend to return to their former glory writing new material in an earnest and natural way that hits just like the old classics. Crossing in some country to cover both artists’ bases, this album really gets John tapping into amazing piano voicing and a glam-rock energy that he’s long calmed down from. After a spacey and theatrical opening harkening back to late 70s Elton John, “The Rose of Laura Nyro” sets the album soaring with a triumphant and more cinematic start than we’ve gotten from John in some time. More of this vintage flare is firing on “Little Richard’s Bible” as Carlile wails over John’s pianos and the duo create a roaring anthem to 50s rockers for the ages. John’s grand piano arrangements take over on “Who Believes in Angels,” as the more musical-esque burst of the chorus finds him and Carlile wailing like two souls that have been crooning together for ages. The level of self-reflection on “When This Old World Is Done with Me” is chilling, but strangely comforting coming from John’s established point of view, having done it all, faced dozens of personal setbacks and still managed to come out on top.

Rebekah Hawker – Take Me Back (Single)
Barrie/Oro-Medonte, Ontario

Trying to recapture lost magic, Rebekah Hawker takes a chance on the country-pop track “Take Me Back.” With a lot of sorrow and doubt baked into the arrangements, Hawker taps into the deep pain that country can do so well, as every slide guitar feels like a personal whimper against life’s hardships. There’s also something more deeply profound learning that Hawker was spending time back in her hometown while recording this track, suggesting there may be a little bit of this love song that’s singing to a place rather than just a person. And the way that Hawker builds out the instrumentation towards each chorus, as the hope in her own story tries to overcome the worry, gives the track a truly evocative energy.

Casper Skulls – Kit-Cat
Toronto

After a long four-year break, raising a child and keeping their music alive, Casper Skulls’ writing feels vibrant as ever, and lyrically feels like it’s taken a huge injection from moving through phases of life in just a few short years. Hyper aware of existential reality while seeming to thrive in that finite flame, Casper Skulls’ have kept their spark strong. The dynamic range of “Spindletop” expands the band’s sound beautifully, taking us down rural roads with beam upon beam of warm sunlight washing over you across the track. The grinding, pyric fury of “Roddy Piper” grapples onto your ears from the outset, matching the tracks damaged and wearing out story, to make for a dense sonic wallop. There’s already an overpoweringly soothing wave of energy on “Sweet Spots” in its dazzling chords and dancing riffs, but as the synths come alive like fireworks, the instrumentals elevate the song to one of the band’s best. “Numbing Mind” let’s the riffs lead the charge, on a very Mercy Works-era sound, ramping up tension, exploding out and then building again from 10 feet above their first charge to make an unstoppable song.

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