Feb. 3 brought just what the world needed -- another "The" band. With their debut album "Me First," newcomers The Elected are the latest in a long line of The bands, beginning with The Beatles. The bands are a select breed of musicians that have brought The edginess (The White Stripes and The Strokes), music (The Beatles), LSD (The Grateful Dead) and just straight coolness (The Band) into our music.
The bands are everywhere, don't get me wrong. Being a The band is a mark of coolness and therefore Led Zeppelin, Radiohead and Interpol, as well as many others, have gained The band status. To be a The band, groups have to be innovative, creative and different. So, why "The Elected" as opposed to just "Elected?" While still pondering front man Blake Sennett's great comb-over (which could be supplemented with a bow tie and pants that stop halfway down the shins), the answer comes.
Is that a banjo I hear in track three? Yes. Members of the band "play": voice, guitar, keys, lap steel, harmonica, bass, drums and my favorite, whistling. Other instruments added by friends of the band include banjo, synthesizer, glockenspiel, clavinet, bassoon, saxophone, more whistling and violin. Thanks to friends Phillip Watt and Jason Boesel, clapping was made possible on "Waves." It is hard to get an idea of The Elected's sound without hearing how the instruments work together.
It is like listening to Radiohead's mechanic percussion combined with My Morning Jacket's twangy, electric slide guitar. Complete the band with a singer that plays acoustic guitar and sings with the same quivering delicate voice as Elliott Smith, who happens to be thanked in the credits. (Coincidence? I think not.) I could not tell you exactly what in the music reminds me of Travis, but there is something. The songs are melodic, mellow and dreamlike. It is like listening to the ocean, except for "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" which painfully reminds me of circus music with a touch of the West Virginia State Fair. The clues are everywhere. I should have expected it from a band that would put out an album with a gold pig on the cover.
In the album "Me First," songs frequently lead into one another. However, creative as the album is, it sticks to the standard three-and-a-half minute song format. But, a unique element to this album comes in the minute-and-a-half space between "The Miles 'till Home" and "Go On." An unlisted song begins to play only to flicker out and be replaced by dysfunctional noise. The volume of the dysfunction rises and serves as the percussion in "Go On" until it is joined and replaced by real drums.
What at first was the disappointment of buying another messed-up CD turns into, "Oh that's good, real good." In fact, I bet the band is patting themselves on the backs right now because that stunt alone satisfies the innovative, creative and different requirements. Their parents must be so proud of them. The album lowers expectations with the first song only to eclipse them with song two, "Greetings in Braille." It works up to "Go On," climaxing at track eight, followed by "C'mon Mom" whose opening rift is reminiscent of REM's "Everybody Hurts." The last three songs gradually return to the same tempered level as the beginning.
The experience of listening to "Me First" is like waking up from a dream. Forty-five minutes have passed, but it seems like no time at all, like time travel. So, does The Elected have the right to give itself the same title as Zeppelin? No, but no one does.
It is hard to tell how much of The Elected's style has been taken directly from other The bands, and how much of it is their own idea. Regardless, I give them the benefit of the doubt because of all the goodness in "Me First." The final product, for the most part, is greater than the sum of its individual parts. It is synergy, baby -- a creation with a mind of its own. For now, we will let the name slide, but if it does not work out being a The band, they can always change there name to ______boys (fill in blank with unexciting word) and stand out from the talent-less musicians we hear on the radio.
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