For their fourth LP,
Elephant Stone could have stuck to a recipe that's worked well for founder and main songwriter
Rishi Dhir. It's one that lays breezy melodies over a pop blueprint, adding luscious psychedelic accompaniment that welcomes experimentation and often features
Dhir's sitar -- still a rare timbre in Western rock 50 years after
George Harrison made it go mainstream. Instead,
Ships of Fools sees the band branch out to a degree, keeping glittering guitars as a marshmallowy center but playing with other flavors. Never a strictly retro band,
Elephant Stone has bridged the late '60s, '90s, and 21st century since they began. Here, they reach into the '80s while leaning further toward the contemporary, with heavy dance grooves on tracks like "Where I'm Going" and "Cast the First," which is also colored by '80s-inspired synths and effects. It's not a new wave album; that song also features an overdriven guitar solo, though later, "Love Is Like a Spinning Wheel" almost sounds like a
Style Council cover. In contrast, and more in keeping with their past, ringing guitars, sitar, and hand drums take center stage on "Silence Can Say So Much." All of these palettes come together on "Andromeda," a trippy mix of guitars, keys, and audio recordings from NASA (the song was inspired by Hubble photographs of the Andromeda galaxy released while
Dhir was writing the album). Elsewhere, the more laid-back "Photograph" has a classic
Lennon-mixed-with-
McCartney melody, as well as self-doubting lyrics indicative of the uncertainty and occasional conflict found elsewhere on the record.
Ships of Fools is a little brasher and darker than the band's past albums, but hangs on to a warm, kaleidoscopic core. ~ Marcy Donelson