Elsah

Elsah took the floor and pounded out close to an hour of devastating country/rock/roots mayhem: twang and death and chords and all the things right in the world. The kind of rock music that makes the women foxier, the drinks stronger. Up til then I was unfamiliar with their back catalog, so I only recognized the covers at the end: a rousing rave-up of “Folsom Prison Blues” and a psychobilly freakout on “Satan, Your Kingdome Must Come Down” that went on for 20 minutes but could have kept going in my opinion. Three guitarists, bass and drums, tear-ass down a highway to oblivion to be found in a re-rehashed folk number. For real, this was one of the more transcendent moments I’ve had at a show. Perhaps I was at just the right stage of inebriation and up-my-own-assedness, but this kind of breakdown was the kind of thing I envision myself pulling on stage one day, should I ever reach the level of having talent I can forego to get there. Toward the end of it, the singer was dissolved into a rolling-eye chant, the guitarists had wandered off into their own sectors of the cosmos, and I’m not sure if the drummer was even there anymore, but it was glorious.

On their self titled EP they offer a more controlled affair, and where singer Neil Werries live had a wired Tom Petty thing going, he’s got more of a Stan Ridgway twang going on record. In fact, the Wall of Voodoo man’s solo albums are a good description of this album: solid songs, western via alternative rock guitar: songs that are epics in themselves. “Red Wine” is a killer song, rocking like that one big song by Dramamrama without being as corny. “Transformer” is a loud stormy number, echoing like the Cars on downers in a cistern, or something like that. “Morgan County” will make you long for the days of True Believers and Green on Red with its urban drifter feel. Sam Boykin Short (full disclosure: he’s a friend and a neighbor) is a great guitar player, one of those guys you catch yourself thinking “Goddamn, he’s a great guitar player” when you see him live, like I have a million times in his countless other local bands, but this configuration seems to serve him best. His sweet but still lethal strafing runs throughout the record, and particularly on “Propeller” are superb. If there is any band in my town I’d really like to see go big time, its this one. I think they got it in them. - Alex V. Cook