Monday, June 26, 2006
PINK ELEPHANT
Formed in the martian sweatshop in 1991, Pink Elephant lived a rather short but meaninful existence in the ever changing landscape of the Singaporean indie underground. Their presence was like a fresh breath of hope when bands were going stagnant outpacing the blasts or sashaying to the British faggotry because they played in the endearingly dysfunctional offbeat folk fogey way. The lineup of this wonder unit goes like Dennis (drums), Cher Wai (guitars), Clement (guitar, bass, programming and vocals), and Redmund (vocals) and they had their first public showcase with the famous Gang Bang tape compilation of Singaporean indies. In 1992, they released their best effort to date, namely the "18 Minutes In Wonderland" demo, which had earned itself rave reviews in the local column inches. The demo is a mishmash of different influences stemming from their impressionable youth, with strong Bob Dylan super-imposed over beat-happy, note-stringy Shamen, and maybe Morissey singing to Tracy Chapman, or even Jesus and Mary Chain. They had several tracks that just leave one bewildered, like the wonderfully wistful "Gone Forever", the quirky "Surfing Martian", and of course the title track, which echoes folk on acid, or perhaps what they called psychedelic folk. Excellent stuff, albeit a slightly weak production. But Pink Elephant is now more extinct than the bloody Dodo.
--sojourner at 7:42 AM