Available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms, new singles from Saskatoon alt-rock band Elephant Seal “Redshift Horizon” and “New Felt/Maelstrom” provide a distant response to the character lore of the band’s debut album, The Elephant Seal Song Company (2019). Recorded at Rainy Day Recording Co, the tracks produced by Matt Stinn (Dump Babes, Friends of Foes, Saul the singer) and mastered by Trevor Case (Missy Elliot, Kelly Clarkson, Alessia Cara) combine biting guitar riffs and thundering, intentional rhythms. An ethereal anticipation is pronounced in the bright notes of the keys, with an occasional bouncy optimism throughout the bottom end.
In “Redshift Horizon”, that optimism is juxtaposed with soul-searching lyrics and apocalyptic imagery loosely inspired by Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. A cultural “shift to red” is being contemplated, drawing a comparison between literal light-waves stretching out, and humanity growing distant from its own morality.
“New Felt/Maelstrom” is the spiritual successor to the debut album track “Black Mold Apparatus”. Although there are almost no direct lyrical references to the latter, the imagery is playing off its story of a father lost at sea in a terrible storm. Thunder and waves crashing down are referenced with the instruments punching out huge chords. The drumming adds an unstoppable gale-force aspect for the musical storm created.
“Redshift Horizon” and “New Felt/Maelstrom” are being released in honour of band member Joshua Peters, whose life was taken in summer of 2022. A fervent eagerness to record the music that Joshua co-wrote is leading the band back into the studio for 2023 to complete their sophomore LP.
