Quiet Elephant

One of St. John’s latest secret weapons, the oxymoron that is Quiet Elephant will march, stomp, thump and then plow into you like the New Pornographers-ish high energy juggernaut they have clearly set themselves up to be. Last night at The Ship, though most everyone had left after a great show from Matthew Hornell and the Diamond Minds (listen to his solo performance on The New Spin here) I was glad I stayed to listen to the uber-fast 16th-note licks flying out of Paul Alexander’s guitar as he crooned to us in a Spencer (edit) Krug-like ( see Sunset Rubdown) fashion over their punk-induced 80’s alt-rock sound.

QE distinguishes themselves from other bands all the more once you add the unique interplay of Sharleen Simmons’s backing vocals, accordion, trumpet, and keys against the driving beats of her brother Stephen on the drums. Now just add the bass from Paul’s twin David and you have yourself a rollickin’ good show that’ll whiz by you like a shooting star that’ll be over before you know it, leaving you to wonder what the hell you just witnessed, where the hell did it come from, and yes sir, may I have some more? Sure, they could take a little more time with the songs, flesh them out to give us some more layers and depth, not to mention some pumping double-tracked four-on-the-floor bass kicks to accent the rhythmic aspect of their songs, but the high energy dynamics are too in-your-face to even care or give it a thought. They want to give you a jolt and they achieve that and then some. Go see ‘em if you haven’t. - Signal (Dashel Brown)