Elk Milk comes into their own with adventurous new album, crafting a progressive and experimental pop sound
I’ve said it many times: Chattanooga is a city that abounds with musical talent. There is a depth and diversity of genius in the region that, frankly, dwarfs the expectations one might reasonably have for the size of our city.
Within that impressive pool of performers there is a shorter list of bands and musicians who, from a creative standpoint, represent the cream of the crop.
These are the artists who at any frozen moment in time might be accurately described as “great”. Yet with each new entry they manage to push the envelope, demonstrating time and time again that no matter how great any particular work may be, the next will surpass it.
Danimal Pinson is a great example of this. And so is Elk Milk, and with their latest EP, Sea Within, they prove once again that a great band can be even greater.
Weighing in at seven tracks and approximately 30 minutes of music, it might be designated as a heavy EP or a light album, but in any case it is an excellent showcase of the band’s ongoing evolution. Overall it is heavier than pop music, but with real commercial viability.
One could easily imagine the track “Tiny Spark” being featured on one of those “Best of the Year” compilation albums that pop up around Christmas time.
At the same time, the music seems to share some common ground with progressive and experimental rock. Yet comparing them to any of the well-known bands in those genres would be a disservice to Elk Milk.
They don’t “sound like” any other band besides Elk Milk, but clearly they are influenced by a number of heavy-hitters, or at least they share some sensibilities about how a song should be constructed with some famously innovative folk.
“Wolfen” in particular is a stand out track, and in many ways, a definitive one as far as the band’s sound is concerned. Complex and atmospheric, the song (and really, every song on the EP) would be equally well received at a concert, a festival, in a darkened room through headphones, or in a car sailing down a deserted highway late at night where the only light the glow of the dashboard.
Music is art, therefore musicians are artists, but there is a higher level and more specific brand of artistry to this work than one commonly hears. And that’s Elk Milk in a single word: artistry.
The songs are meticulously constructed, yet the band avoids the self-absorbed and often pompous pitfalls other bands succumb to when pursuing this kind of sound.
Honestly, the EP could easily serve as the soundtrack to a cutting edge and award-winning indie film perhaps because the band itself has a cutting-edge, indie quality to it.
The official release is set for this Saturday at JJ’s Bohemia, the premier outlet for some of the best music the city has to offer. Elk Milk will be joined that evening by Nightway and Side Affect and a quick trip to the band’s Facebook page will grant you a preview of what’s to come via “Tiny Spark.”
It may be better to age more like wine than milk, but in the case of Elk Milk, each new release signifies a move up for a band already at the top of their game.