Music Review: Deadboy & the Elephantmen – We Are Night Sky

Two-piece rock band crafts oddly addictive songs about…nothing.

I heard about this band while wandering through Fat Possum Record’s website. At the time, one of my favorite bands, the Black Keys, were signed to that label. Fat Possum splits its catalog between old-fashioned blues singers like Model-T Ford, and neo-punk rock acts like the Black Keys, the Heartless Bastards, and of course, Deadboy & the Elephantmen.

We Are Night Sky is DB&EM’s latest release. So far, their work is relatively unknown, so you won’t find reviews of their works published in any magazines. I found this CD used, surprisingly, and decided it was worth the time and money to explore a little bit further into Fat Possum’s universe.

I didn’t even know that DB&EM was yet another two-piece band before I bought this CD. It would seem that in the wake of the success of the White Stripes, all two-piece acts are enjoying a little sunlight and record deals. How good their music is, however, is another matter. In the case of DB&EM, Dax and Tessie strke out to truly create a new and unique sonic language for themselves.

All of the songs on this album were written by Dax Riggs and Tessie Brunet, ( vocals & guitars and drums, respectively.) and if listened to enough, they begin to show a certain affinity for certain ideas.
One of which is a bizarre poly-tonal approach to ornamentation. If the chord struck by the guitar is major, Dax has no problem singing a minor third against the major, creating an uncomfortable dissonance that is usually only resolved by yet another clashing use of chords.
Also, the songwriting always enjoys the tonic chord as an anchor. When the song arrives at a downbeat, the chord is clear and uncomplicated, but at any half-cadence, this is where the vocals or solo guitar will sneak in with a grinding dissonance which the ear cannot help but listen to.

The songs on this album are almost equally balanced between a harder-edged fuzzed-out guitar song and melancholic acoustic number, each taking their turn at expressing indecipherable lyrics over churning instrumentals. And yet, I could not bring myself to turn this CD off. I must have listened through this entire album five or six times, and it was easy to really get lost in the tunes.

The Grade: B-

T.