Elephant Run’s ‘Leftover Land’ is a raw, vulnerable and surprisingly intimate album. The musical incarnation of the long-distance relationship between artists from Brazil and Sweden finds its strength in the band’s ability to blend Amanda’s Scandinavian melodies with the raw power and swing of the São Paulo underground scene. Recorded in five days at Mato Records Studio in the foggy hills of Brazil, the album has the sense of both urgency and patience of a living organism desperately trying to breathe again. A cohesive body of work linked together by honesty, emotional vulnerability and a shared sense of rediscovery, ‘Leftover Land’ is the product of the band’s separation, reunion and ultimately rebirth.
Opening track “Hanoi”, a short and enigmatic ambient-folk piece, immediately pulls the listener in with its dreamy, otherworldly tones and Amanda’s ethereal vocals. “Autophobic” immediately ups the ante, with a menacing vibe, fueled by complex layers of guitar and percussion that perfectly complements the track’s theme: the fear of being alone. “Make It Real” changes the pace and feels a lot more earthy and funky, while still managing to be highly addictive without being trite. The song that probably best exemplifies Elephant Run’s artistic universe is undoubtedly “We Are Heroes”. The album’s emotional core and also its most ambitious track, it clocks in at a sprawling nine minutes where every second and every sound seems to have been carefully planned and orchestrated to arrive exactly where it’s supposed to be. The way the music starts, slowly almost breathing, then gradually rises into a massive, bone-crushing crescendo is staggering and gut-wrenching. Elephant Run have never sounded as naked and unfiltered as they do on this one.
The second side of the album is no less accomplished. “Urubu”, another short piece, shows a grittier, more experimental side of the band, where noise and distortion seem to be constantly threatening to take the whole track over. “Pega Mal” adds an extra Brazilian flavor, with a distinct funk edge and a more direct approach. “Your Head First” is one of the most cinematic songs on the album, with its almost completely instrumental structure and layered vocals giving it an apocalyptic feel of a thousand arms trying to reach each other across an immense valley. The closing track, “Utsålt”, takes the listener on a final hauntingly beautiful voyage, with its quiet, minimalist yet somehow warm, cold and ultimately human feel perfectly encapsulating the band’s aesthetic. Elephant Run’s ‘Leftover Land’ is the epitome of the evolution of an art project coming to terms with itself and its place in the world. The best way to describe this record is as the sonic embodiment of an old ghost: born from a burning bush, kept alive by ashes, new ideas and memories.
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