Wooden Elephants - Wooden Elephants

Wooden Elephants

Wooden Elephants
self-released; 2014

3.2 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Wooden Elephants is a band from the UK who has been playing music together since 2013. Apparently when they travel to do gigs they go out as a duo comprised of Matthew Perrington (lead guitar, violin, percussion) and Robyn Weightman (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, drums). If they happen to play locally Phil Wadey (bass) joins them. 

All three members worked on their self-titled album Wooden Elephants that contain acoustic based songs that have more in common with traditional folk songs than anything else. Some of the songs remind me of songs you would hear in Braveheart at the local village or somewhere within the World of Warcraft. Even the singer Robyn Weightman sounds like she is singing at a play. I wouldn’t be surprised if they introduced a lute on their next album. 

The album starts off with an instrumental piece called “Turtle.” It was a nice sounding piece revolving around guitars, bass, piano and drums. I was impressed by the riff but thought the playing could have been a bit tighter sounding. It was also on this track you can tell that it was a DIY production that has its aesthetic limits.

“Mind Circus” showcases Weightman’s unique voice. She has an interesting voice that I have conflicting thoughts about. She double tracks some of the vocals here which help out the production. “Mind Circus” suffers from some of the same issues as “Turtle” in that the band could have been more in the pocket.

“Into Midnight” sounds like a straight up traditional Scottish folk song. It’s certainly not something you would normally hear a bunch of college kids making. The following song “Pirate “ is very much in the same vein but they add violin this time around. 

Wooden Elephants contains a number of mishaps and some of the  songs that don’t pan out so well but overall there was enjoyable material here. The band still needs to do a lot of tweaking and they could use some help on the production side of things but I consider this a valiant first effort.

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