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          Elder — The Gold & Silver Sessions (July 12, 2019) Pamela MÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃéndez ÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃâ Time (22 Feb 2019)»•    An experimental LP recorded while on tour in 2018 exploring the band’s interest in lighter psychedelic music and krautrock. Elder is a three~piece heavy psych band hailing from Boston, USA. Their lengthy songs are told as stories, unfolding and undulating across genre boundaries and into new kosmische territory.
»•     The power of Reflections of a Floating World lies in Elder’s ability to lay plans and consistently execute them to maximum effect. Lore saw the band experimenting far more than before with psychedelia and progressive rock, bringing a new mode of understanding the cross between oddity and homage that brought out the best in two different genres built on the monolithic worship of its primogenitors. This new outing sees them bringing the best of everything they’ve done before to the forefront of their sound, understanding their own past just as much as the past of their various genres.
»•     Fusing the future and past so fluidly, and synthesizing a sound entirely their own through it, Reflections of a Floating World sets a new standard for both originality and execution in the world of stoner music and, in the process, once again transports its listeners to a world wholly of Elder’s creation. creation. 
Location: New Bedford, MA

Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock, Doom Metal
Album release: July 12, 2019
Record Label: Stickman Records/Blues Funeral Recordings
Duration:     33:57
Tracks:
01 Illusory Motion   9:56
02 Im Morgengrauen   5:26
03 Weiáensee   18:35
Credits: 
Peder Bergstrand    Artwork, Layout
Jack Donovan    Bass
Matthew Couto    Drums
Michael Risberg    Guitar, Keyboards
Nick Disalvo    Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Bass
Max Löffler    Illustration
JJ Koczan    Liner Notes
Carl Saff    Mastered
Emanuele Baratto    Recorded, Mixed
Editorial Reviews:
»•     Capturing Elder’s expanding dynamic and ongoing progression, The Gold & Silver Sessions is an experimental LP of ranging psychedelic jams that captures their expressive and nuanced development in a way a regular studio release wouldn’t. This is still the band who put out 2017’s crushing Reflections of a Floating World, but following their imagination in an entirely new direction.
Review
WORDS: Joseph Schafer
»•     It’s no secret that we’ve been living through a renaissance of doom metal for some time. In the last decade, many acts have taken the general template laid out by Black Sabbath — guitar riffs as tasty as they are slow, an all~encompassing, womblike atmosphere and emotive singing — and rejuvenated it for the new millennium. Where would we be without the sorrowful splendor of Pallbearer, or the bluesy tragedy of Windhand?
»•     Massachusetts prog~tinged heavy~rock trio, Elder — recently expanded into a quartet — are absolutely in the same company. They have been churning out stellar metal that mixes doom with a kaleidoscopic mix of other sounds throughout five albums in the past decade.
»•     Even so, it seems as though Elder’s name has skimmed under the surface compared to their peers. Newcomers may be looking for an excellent place to start diving into the band’s multifaceted career.
»•     Elder’s forthcoming release, The Gold & Silver Sessions, which is streaming exclusively below, may not actually be that place — though it’s a wonderful, stimulating listen, it’s also a bold, experimental departure for the band. The Gold & Silver Sessions, for one, are entirely instrumental. For another, two of these three songs lean heavily on live jamming, while all three dive into kosmische, the psychedelic and experimental rock tradition of Germany. Both of those influences have long been a part of Elder’s music — but a small part.
»•     The great thing about Elder’s music, both new and old, is how immaculately constructed it tends to be. The liner notes to The Gold & Silver Sessions describe their music as “sonic pointillism”. Indeed, describing the band as painters is a comparison that they invite themselves: their 2017 masterpiece Reflections of a Floating World is named after the Ukiyo~e style of Japanese woodblock prints, which depict the samurai class with color and grace.
»•     Elder play with similar color and grace. Rather than playing with a single tone guitarist and vocalist Nick DiSalvo, joined since 2017 by second guitarist Mike Risberg, cycle through different guitar sounds, in turn, aggressive and joyful. The band’s love of ’70s progressive rock, including groups like Yes and Gentle Giant, shows in their talent for packing a large number of riffs into a single, often ten~plus minute song.
»•     Long songs are no new feat for doom. Doom bands have a tendency to ride a single riff or groove for a long time until it becomes hypnotic at best, but sometimes monotonous at worst. Elder never hit that monotony point: They zig~zag between different sounds, closer to classic rock one minute and closer to old school heavy metal the next. Throughout a single song, a listener can hear two or three entirely different genres.
»•     Much of that musical complexity comes from the interpersonal chemistry that the members share, which has been honed over time. Nick, bassist Jack Donovan, and drummer Matt Couto recorded the band’s first release, a split with Queen Elephantine, in 2006 when they were teenagers.
»•     That core trio recorded most of Elder’s discography, from their 2009 self~titled album through 2015’s breakout Lore. Along the way, the trio’s music grew more complex while releasing music with regularity. 2011’s Dead Roots Stirring thickened their pummeling riffs, lengthened their songs and introduced more texture to their compositions, and earned them a slot at The Netherlands’ esteemed Roadburn festival. Four years later, Lore doubled down on the psychedelic and classic rock influences nibbling at the corners of their music before, introducing full-on expressionist rock in the tradition of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
»•     Lore hinted at the triumph that the band executed on 2017’s Reflections Of A Floating World. The group added Mike to their ranks for that album, and enlisted pedal steel contributions from guest Michael Stamos. The added layers of sound sweeten the band’s already honeylike melodies. Instead of sounding dense, the band opened up on that album, exploring even more sonic territory. The jammy, Allman Brothers~esque Sonntag sits comfortably on that album next to Thousand Hands, which sounds a little like Love Like Blood~era Killing Joke before blasting off into stoner territory.
»•     Next to that, The Silver & Gold Sessions is a creative sidestep informed by Nick’s relocation to Germany and constructed in part from a scrapped solo album by the guitarist — he plays every instrument on Im Morgengrauen. Putting the Atlantic Ocean between him and his bandmates hasn’t slowed Elder down, though. The band still tour regularly and play multiple festival dates per year. Better, a new, full~length studio album to be released later this year is already in the works. Until then, fans of doom’s new millennium can sate themselves with The Silver & Gold Sessions.
»• https://www.kerrang.com/ 
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