Elder: Omens | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Coming through with a trim, five song track listing, this new release dons the cap of an EP. Looks are inherently deceiving though. These five songs amount to a bee’s dick under an hour’s worth of material. Combined, it should all be consumed in a single sitting, the material blends together as smooth as butter in a saucepan. These are five distinguished pieces with a galvanised musical movement. Due to their sheer length, they don’t lend themselves to being listened to on repeat as individual songs. Everything is interwoven: Omens is one of those rare modern albums that works best as an entire, artistic piece. Regardless of how you want to classify the new Elder record, the heavy psych crew traverse a gripping, metal medley with flamboyant gusto & Chekhovian motifs. As each song progresses, from one section to the next, the band’s chemistry is evident, sounding more like an extended jam than meticulously signposted songs.

Elder hold the tempo to a steady speed and pace out the album in a way that -given the gargantuan waves- never feels like it drags. To borrow an analogy that may fall flat and if it doesn’t holler at me, Elder pace their record and songs like New Japan Pro Wrestling does their main events. There’s an ebb and a flow. The album opener and title-track smoulders into existence with the help of ringer Fabio Cumo’s synths over hunks of groove. We’re a third of a way into the song before thematic vocals cut through lakes of prog riffs; it's a lake which streams itself into placid shimmer sonics over a meditative rhythm. Downriver this gentle pool which forms the three minute closing passage, headbanging drives trailing behind as blazing fretboard.

In Procession cheats the ten-minute-mark by mere seconds and kicks off with strident, percussive guitars, glazed with even more sweet synths. The guitars begin to jitter and pair with the synth during the latter third, warping themselves into a sci-fi theme song. The idea of motion and transition is a constant across

Omen. Halcyon marks the halfway point. A moody lull built around buzzing triplet swells meeting another helping of that vocal boom. It’s only that number's penultimate gambit: with a strong, rising guitar line in the final moments; you’ll be humming it. That, in and of itself, is the sign of a stellar instrumental passage; to have a main melody strong enough that the listener can comfortably hum along. With twenty minutes still left across two songs Embers and One Light Retreating keep the motifs rolling, both finishing with triumphant closing passages. The way Embers disintegrates in its tail would have been a much more thematic end to an album about crumbling society and the apocalypse but if that’s the only gripe I have…I’m coming away from this record with glowing positivity.

Find yourself your best pair of headphones. Failing that, hook up to your favourite speakers. Omens is an album you can continually get lost in. Here's another analogy for you: every time through -like the best parts of Seinfeld- you’ll pick up an extra little nuance. Albums that have that high repeat value won’t tire you any time soon and that’s exactly what we have here.

- Matt Lynch.
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