Introducing… Elephantine

Here at Bearded we aim to shed light on acts who don't necessarily have giant labels or muscley budgets waving banners behind them. This Introducing series will focus on artists who we think are great, regardless of how much hype surrounds them or where their origin story lays.

Bio
Name: Elephantine
Location: Birmingham
Genre: Punk-Rock
Similar Artists: Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey (Rid of Me era, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, Ocean Colour Scene
Contact: Facebook, Twitter
Events: Currently touring small venues of Birmingham and supporting a number of Birmingham bands

Having already supported the infectiously cool PINS this year, Elephantine are riding a stampede of hefty punk-rock through the Birmingham music scene. With their juicy, squealing music being put to record and tight, hot venues being set pounding with energetic performances, 2014 is a promising year for the Birmingham-based trio.

This ticks the boxes for fans of the kind of rock best served crammed into a sweaty venue with the crowd close enough to get a bass in the face. It’s a gravelly and grungy offering. Lead singer Anna Palmer’s voice makes it. Husky, slightly unhinged, full of ballsy energy and bringing a passion to songs that embed choruses in your head these vocals give an edge to Elephantine’s crashing sounds.

However, for Palmer this is not her only project. Aside from this she creates records under the name of I Am Anushka, which is at complete odds with her Elephantine work. As I Am Anushka, the vocal is smooth, and at times has a ghoulish timbre to it. It’s very Kate Bush; atmospheric with floaty hand movements. So to have Elephantine – which is a straight delivery, raw, harsh and steely – borne from the same set of pipes is almost unrecognisable and shows impressive range.

Previously, lead vocals in the band had been shared with howling Youth Man front-woman, Kaila Whyte, who still makes occasional returns to the band for live performances – and a smiling riot it brings too. These days performances are largely kept to just the drum, bass and guitar trio.

Elephantine’s current Soundcloud crop stands at ‘Abreast’ which is a couple of minutes worth of those nut-busting, straight delivered vocals. Another creation being played to great success on the live circuit has been ‘Blame.’ This comes with a chorus that bulldozes its way through a juicy chorus hook of “I’m a broke ass bitch with so much to give.” It’s a largely aggressive set that has every right to be making the waves it does.



As Elephantine continue to add gigs to their schedule – first notice of these crop up on Facebook or Twitter– they are building a solid founding in Birmingham. But with the numerous other musical and social commitments that Palmer has (she is part of a group that organised a successful night celebrating women in art) further releases may take some time. If Elephantine find the time to put together a full album of releases in 2014 then it will be full of aggressive energy and ready for the ears of any fans of Rid Of Me era PJ Harvey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs or fellow brummies Ocean Colour Scene.