Tokyo Police Club
Elephant Shell
- Record Label
- Mempis Industries
About this item
"Elephant Shell" lands roughly a year and half after the "A Lesson In Crime" EP and barely three years on from the band's 2005 formation. David Monks, lead singer/bassist, described "A Lesson in Crime" at the time of release as 'wide-eyed post-punk with a tendency to get over excited' - "Elephant Shell" is built on the same rapid-fire foundations of their previous work but is now built high with corridors of soaring sonic invention. The opening one-two rapid-fire salvo of "Centennial" and "In A Cave" barely evaporates before "Graves" and "Juno" pack innumerable hooks and "what-does-that-remind-me-of" glimmers into taut 2-minute-and-change frameworks, while "Tessellate" and "Sixties Remake" encapsulate everything great about the manic Tokyo Police Club live experience: soaring guitar signatures and keyboard figures, driving backbeats and irresistible sing-along's abound. Elsewhere, "The Harrowing Adventures Of..." and the dubbed out standout "Listen To The Math" find our young protagonists stretching out, hinting at a new-found maturity, ably adapting their energy into more subdued structures before the rousing coda of "The Baskervilles" brings the record to a shuddering halt.