Elephant Stone is making a Columbus stop at Rumba Café on March 28. Go to www.elephantstone.ca for more information.
Musician Rishi Dhir created the psychedelic pop/rock band Elephant Stone with bandmates Miles Dupire (drums), Robbie MacArthur (guitar) and Jason Kent (keys/guitar), fifteen years ago. It formed just before artists such as Tame Impala and Mac Demarco incorporated the sounds of heavy guitar reverb topped with hazy, low-key vocals of modern psychedelic rock into the charts.
“We’d always be asked like, ‘What is psychedelic music?’ and I don't know,” Dhir says. “I find there’s so much amazing music out there that’s not conventional mainstream music and I think that’s it. I guess psychedelic music is just much more open-minded.”
In 2009, Dhir already had experience playing with alternative bands such as The Black Angels, Beck, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre and was ready to create something that was fully his own. One of the things that makes the Canadian group stand out from similar artists is Dhir’s use of sitar.
“I’ve been playing sitar now for like 25-26-27 years and when I started this project, it was supposed to be like this kind of sitar instrumental psychedelic garage thing,” he says. “There’s something off about Elephant Stone. I think that kind of makes it interesting. I personally don’t find it that predictable. I find there are surprises and I think that has to do with my melodic understanding of eternity.”
Those who attend an Elephant Stone show should expect a cerebral experience, and Dhir hopes the crowd comes into the venue with an open mind and heart.
“We have so many different colors to our sound, we go more psychedelic pop, can go more spiritual, so it’s not like a conventional live show,” he says. “I hope that they’re able to listen to songs and kind of reflect on their lives. I try to write songs that are universal and personal, but also open to interpretation, so people dig deep into this and realize there’s a lot going on, there is more than what meets the eye.”
Dhir comes from a Hindu family which influences the themes of Elephant Stone’s first album, The Seven Seas (2009), which follows a sort of ambiguous spiritual path, and its album The Three Poisons (2014), which explores themes of Buddhism.
The group’s newest album, Back Into The Dream, which was released in February, continues the trend of reflection and looking for a deeper meaning.
“I had to tap into this sadness for a long time to write a song but now I’m able to go someplace and find meaning without it consuming me,” Dhir says. “I spent about a year working on this every day just kind of fine-tuning it. This is the most control I’ve had over any album we’ve done so far. I’ve produced it and mixed it myself so I have more faith in my abilities than I did 20 years ago. I know what I can do and what my musical watermark is.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenecolumbus.com.
