Elder- Reflections of a Floating World (Stickman Records Psychobabble 091)

The bands previous record LORE, saw the band heading into a more melodic direction but with some great and shorter songs. This album is basically 4 album sides, each with a different feeling and vibe and tracks between 8 and 11mins in length. The band has also augmented their sound with an 2^nd guitar (Michael Risberg), pedal steel (Michael Samos) and mellotron on a few tracks.  The album side long Sanctuary starts things off. A heavy Elder riff starts things off and then the mood starts to change with some great guitar after the first vocal section. Quite a psychedelic section with keys and guitar which leads back into the songs main riff. This track has many changes and parts but is always interesting. Side 2 has two tracks. The Falling Well starts slow and spacey and then kicks into a nice melodic guitar line and the band lays down a groove and off we go. This track reminds me of Motorpsycho at times. Later, some lush Mellotron is played (by Nick?) as new melodic textures are created. Staving off Truth starts off slow and beautiful with some keyboard textures and melodic guitar lines. Really nice dual harmony guitars on this track, just as there were at the end of the last. Cool lyrics on this track as well. I love the lines Jack lays down on the bass in the spacey section. Another cool track. Side 3 and we are Blind.  The mellotron and mellow keys that accompany the echo vocals contrast with the heavy riffs that come out. Many cool melodic harmony guitars, keyboards are to follow in this album side track that takes us through many sections (how do they remember them all live??).  Side 4 starts with an instrumental (all their songs are practically instrumental!!) called Sonntag. It is quite hypnotic with a very steady bass and drum groove and then some trippy guitar parts and pedal steel. Unique track. Thousand Hands ends the record and is pretty spacey at times with some drone keys and repeated guitar lines but what a nice build on this one. The band is continuing to progress and move forward musically but still sounding like Elder. They used to sound a lot like Colour Haze but remind me of a more heavy version of Motorpsycho now! The new album is brilliant! A very cool artwork with nice inner sleeves, and a lyrics sheet as well.

https://beholdtheelder.bandcamp.com/

https://www.stickman-records.com/