Elysian Fields - Last Night on Earth

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 4 / 8 / 2011

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New York art rockers Elysian Fields – otherwise known as Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow – are back with 'Last Night on Earth', their seventh full studio album (not counting a couple of albums of Sephardic songs for John Zorn’s Tzadik label). The follow-up to 2009’s 'The Afterlife', it is eleven new songs crafted in the band’s usual dreamy, “noir rock” sound. While Elysian Fields will probably never release another record as good as 'Bum Raps and Love Taps' (by far their best, in my opinion), 'Last Night on Earth' is certainly up there. Opener 'Sleepover' makes the most of Charles’ sensual vocals and a guitar hook which latches into your brain and stays there all week. In fact, the album’s only real low point is 'Red Riding Hood' – it’s pretty much as the title would suggest, and I think any time someone tries to tell a fairy tale through the means of art rock they are probably asking for trouble. This song just comes across as a bit cheesy, but happily it’s also quite forgettable, so we can move on quickly and all is forgiven. It’s a strange blip in proceedings, as none of the other songs are anything less than “very good”, and at more than one point reach the heady highs of “pretty great!” Choice picks (if I have to pick just a few) would be the Jeff Buckley-esque 'Sweet Condenser', the piano-led 'Chandeliers' and the frankly brilliant 'Villain on the Run', which is probably the best track on the album, with its chanted coda of “Are you feeling lucky?” Throughout 'Last Night on Earth', Charles and Bloedow prove themselves once again to be two of the most interesting composers working in contemporary rock, as well as being an absolutely fantastic and engaging vocalist and guitarist, respectively. This record is another welcome addition to their body of work, and one can only hope another will follow in the not to distant future.

Track Listing:-

1 Sleepover
2 Red Riding Hood
3 Can't Tell My Friends
4 Sweet Condenser
5 Chance
6 Johnny
7 Church Of The Holy Family
8 Villain On The Run
9 Chandeliers
10 Old Old Wood
11 Last Night On Earth

Label Links:-

http://www.talitres.com/en/
https://www.facebook.com/talitres.rds
https://twitter.com/talitres
https://instagram.com/talitres/

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