Not sure if you’ve noticed it, but lately a lot of the music coming out of Ireland *doesn’t* sound like it’s from Ireland. At all.
You’ve got Inhaler with their brand new track, ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’, Jedward with ‘Golden Years’ and their new album due out any day now. Then there’s Picture This, Tanjier, Wild Youth, Rofi James, Host, Cat Turner, Eve Bell, Otherkin…just to name a few – none of whom have that *thing* which says, “Oh yes this is definitely a band out of Ireland”. It’s not a bad thing. It’s an exciting thing.
And so we come to The Elephant Room, who describe themselves as Lo-Fi, Indie-Noise”, out of Dublin city. And they definitely DON’T have that sound which says “Made In Ireland’. Their latest single, ‘Bad News (For Good People)’ could just as easily have come from anywhere on the US west coast – it’s got a real grungey flavour to it, which could have you thinking it’s from the Pacific North West, but then again, it’s got a 60s vibe to it as well, so you could locate it somewhere in Southern California, at any time from the Summer of Love right to the present day. And that sound is only bad news so far as it’s the name of the song – it’s actually quite good news.
The Elephant Room were founded in 2017, and they’ve released their new single independently, and the entire DIY approach they have is evident not just in the song, but also in the accompanying music video. The trio, which comprises Frank Shortle, Shane Martin, and Ian Hand, also do their own artwork; they basically do everything in-house so as to ensure it’s got exactly what they want. Full creative control. Another good thing.
The trio are pretty tight, their guitars and drums are slick without being over-produced, and you get the feeling that if you went to see The Elephant Room upstairs at The Grand Social you’d get exactly the same feel as from the studio track.
The music video is pretty fun, with a Mime being handed a variety of foods and drink, more and more of them – which he takes willingly, if a little sadly – of course that might just be the effect of his makeup. Eventually he gives in to it all, and begins to enjoy himself. You get the feeling however that the bad news is for him.
The clip is a lyric video, so if you get the urge you can have a sing-a-long. Given how catchy the track is, you may just well do that. Look out for the elephant in the room too – a literal one.
