Elephant

In the organizer's words:

There is hard work behind Elephant 's laid-back performances. Following their acclaimed breakthrough album Big Thing (2022), the indie band from Rotterdam have delighted us with their follow-up Shooting for the Moon, on which they counter their own sarcasm with irresistible guitar melodies, steadfast nonchalance and lyrics that celebrate the beauty of the everyday. The summer sun is shining full in their faces and that's ok, because for Elephant nothing beats serenity and optimism.
The sold-out club tour, the radio presence and the title 'Much-Promising-Talent' awarded by the daily newspaper 'De Volkskrant' and the radio stations 3voor12 and 3FM show that things are going well for Elephant. Shooting for the Moon is therefore a hopeful album, for which the band enlisted the help of Flemish singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees and producer Pablo van de Poel (DeWolff), but relied mainly on their own magical foursome. For a long time, all four of them were mainly sidemen in other people's projects, but now they suddenly had the whole playground to themselves.

After creating Big Thing in a time of pandemic uncertainty, the second album radiates liberation and serenity. "The sun is shining on my face. It's been so long since I've felt anything as real as I do now," it says in 'Enemy'. Not the rain, but the blue sky. Not the night, but the morning. This is a group of like-minded people talking, wanting to create something beautiful at all costs - with the velvet gloves of Andy Shauf, the coy attitude of Teenage Fanclub and The Feelies and the homely warmth of Wilco.

Not that the sarcasm that Elephant tries to banish before the start of every rehearsal has completely disappeared. On the opening track, the band even let their hair down for a moment: "I hate your post-punk pretensions, your fake English accent", they sigh. Rest assured, post-punk lovers. This is not about a dislike of the genre, but about the insecurity and self-realization of an ambitious band on the upswing, a band striving for the moon, flying dangerously close to the sun and knowing exactly how fabulous that sounds.

After a brilliant performance at the Reeperbahn Festival 2024, Elephant are coming to the Hebebühne in Hamburg on April 25. It's going to be very good.