Erratic Combo ELEFANT Released Their New Sturm Und Drang Album – Discover ‘BEJAHUNG’ Track By Track
14 February 2020
After their gloom and doom debut album Konark Und Bonark, a nightmarish psycho opus remarkable for its both otherworldly and creepy metallic sludge disorder, Belgian erratic combo ELEFANT returns with the synthtastic motherrocker called BEHAJUNG.
A more accessible work, except for the schizophrenic and hair-raising moments which make me think of longtime weirdos The Residents. Anyway, the experimental misfits
have entered another bloodcurdling sound area with layers of special effects, some
steamy knockouts, some puzzling razzmatazz, and an overall arresting new Sturm Und Drang sonority of which, even after several spins, you still haven’t a clue how to define it. Therefore we invited Herr Wolllf, the band’s musical maestro to tell us more about their second electroshock longplayer.
The tracks…
.
The anecdotes by Herr Wolllf, track by track…
1. Ultra Plus Ultra
“This one was bound to be the first song of the album. Lyrically it’s about the heroic
deed of walking the dog…”
2. Rechtschreibe
“This one I wrote like in 10 minutes and I really love it. It’s pretty complex rhythmically and dissonant as fuck! The lyrics go back to Robert Frost‘s poem ‘Lodged’ showing humanity who’s in power.”
3. Eazy
“Eazy’ is balancing between Minor / Major, Happy / Sad, Annoying / Soothing.”
‘I will make you go, take a step forward
Let’s take you home, enjoy the walk
I will help you cope, take a step inward
and take you home, enjoy the walk’
4. Water Always Flows Down
“I’m a sucker for choir and vocal music. In Elefant most of the lyrics are pretty upbeat
(no irony) and here i’m trying to put stuff in perspective: humanity might have wandered off its path, but hey, water still flows down. We might destroy ourselves and everything around us, but atoms will survive!”
4. Stillleben
“This is one of my favourites! It’s not sexy. It’s too sad and too slow, but I love
the drama. The title is also the most beautiful word with ‘lll’ consecutive lll’s!”
5. Welcome To Life Sonny
“A fond welcome to my son Elko, the destroyer of death. Musically it turned
out to be our take on 80’s wave boom tchak-ing all the way through…”
6. Bejahung
“A Meeting with Death: Sit down, loosen up, have a cookie. The whole album deals with life/death in a direct or indirect way. Do you choose life or death? It’s got a great oriental vibe provided by our lord of oud: Dr. M. Flamand.”
7. The Dooor
“Tony Clifton in the house! I think in 2019 I was half Wolf, half Tony and this song reflect that. Soundwise to me, it’s Slayer performing in a Bollywood movie.”
8. 3-3-3
“This song was also sung by Tony. Musically, it was inspired by Mariachi music,
but it mutated to this thing called 3-3-3.”
9. A Conversation In A Room
“I needed a little pause before the last track and I remembered this canon.
It’s an invitation to a conversation if the occasion would arise.”
10. My Race Race is Better Than Your Race
“This one’s a bitch to play, but what a lovely squeaky bitch! It’s a reaction to the fear/propaganda that has been pumped in our veins by the press and politicians.”
close your doors for they are coming
close your borders, the water’s rising
close your eyes, the sun is shining
shine your light ’cause all are hiding
forget your rights for they are coming
sell your profile, the water’s rising
shut your voice, the sun is shining
buy a choice ’cause all are hiding
close your doors
close your eyes
they are coming
the sun is shining
Thank you Herr Wolllf to guide us through
Behajung! May the road rise with Elefant!
The album is available digitally via Bandcamp and iTunes, streamable via Spotify
ELEFANT: Facebook
One more thing. From day one the Elefant squad, on stage, dressed as deranged scientific engineers in white outfits and their faces smeared with white chalk, but that’s over now. The band burned their camouflage and look almost normal now.
