3 out of 5

Label: Kemado Records

Producer: Tom Clapp

…And every time I hear that opening track, I think I’m going to love this album.  Elefant stopped by the NY music scene along with the whole Strokes thing that happened in the early double 0’s, but with their richer production – neither the tin-can sound the 70s-nabbing Stokes bands went for or the crunchy splam of trashier-rock bands like White Stripes – and some oddly haunting cover art, Elefant always seemed to stand a couple paces apart.  Which is maybe why they were never truly the next big thing and just stood next to it.

Though there’s a definite 80s vibe running through Sunlight thanks to lead songwriter Diego Garcia’s romantic croon, it avoids the glammy and moody glare of that era by staying away from over-synthing and giving everything a live sound, very much buoyed by a gorgeous bass.  Yes, there are keys, but they too lean toward a more twinkling sound, all of these elements – album art definitely included, done up in hazy oranges and greens – making the sound wrap around you.  And it works for the first few tracks, especially when the group leverage the guitar chords that lurk in the background to suddenly pop forth with interesting progression to really punctuate moments of the certain songs…  But then IT happens – something that sounds like a single.  That Strokes-y guitar comes out, and though the song is good, it loses a bit of the wholesomeness of what comes before.  ‘Sunlight’ remains on a pretty good plateau for most of its runtime, a few of these toss-off singles inevitably cluttering things, but Garcia’s love-lorn lyrics leaning just to the side of sappy or easy to make it interesting to not only tap your toe but listen.  Still – it tails off at the end, one-word titled songs (‘Annie’, ‘Love,’ ‘Ester’) feeling one-dimensional for some reason… but it may just be that the dance is over by that point, Elefant having come out with its best, most charming moves from the start and then just sort of going through some well-practiced motions thereafter.

A richer album than a lot of the scenester stuff from the time, but still part of the scene.