Elysian Fields
The Afterlife
Vicious Circle

If you’ve ever heard Lovage’s Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By and wanted more of Jennifer Charles without Mike Patton creaming at the sound of his own voice, Elysian Fields may be right up your alley.

At best, Lovage was one of Patton’s better ventures with tongue-firmly-in-cheek sexual referencing on “Stroker Ace” and their sultry rendition of Berlin’s “Sex (I’m A).” However, with any Patton project, the record’s only worth a handful of spins, and I was far more enamored by Ms. Charles who fantasized about fucking passengers on “Strangers on a Train.” Sign me up.

Consisting of Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow, Elysian Fields is a more refined endeavor whose influences are rooted in the likes of Serge Gainsbourg and, according to their Myspace page, Eros, the primordial god of lust, beauty, love, and intercourse, who sounds a lot like a penis. Although not as kitschy as Lovage, if you paid close enough attention to Elysian Fields’ early material (1996’s Bleed Your Cedar), Jennifer clearly had a strong affinity for phallic organs and orgasms on songs like “Jack in the Box” and “Star.” Where the hell are these women in real life?

13 years and 4 records later, she uses The Afterlife as a conduit to represent a shift in her romantic ideals, unlike other artists who continue to run around in circles after finding a vapid comfort zone. The album seems to have been recorded over an extended period of time and not in a series of condensed sessions, as she sings about starting afresh on the string-laden “Climbing My Dark Hair” and by the subsequent track, she reminisces longingly on “The Moment.” I’m not one for emphasizing lyrical content, but considering the instrumentation is relatively sparse, I couldn’t help but hone in on her little story. It’s a refreshing humanistic element and a pleasant change of pace from the sea of saccharine musicians who preach some headache-inducing mantra about ending the relationship and not thinking about them ever again in an annoying triumphant fashion.

Unfortunately, The Afterlife doesn’t do much to bring Elysian Fields out of obscurity which, I suspect by now, they’re comfortable with. It’s disheartening to come across a lack of dynamic radio-friendly material this time around, seeing as they could help redefine contemporary pop into something more substantial if they so desired. A quick-fix solution along the lines of “Bend Your Mind” and “Heart Are Open Graves” from 2000’s Queen of the Meadow could’ve done the trick. Until then, their biggest exposure encompasses select coffee shops in New York and France. But hey, I’m simply happy that they’re releasing records at all.

To newcomers, the music itself may sound all the same, but there’s only so much a jazzy, minimalist band from New York can or even cares to do. Elysian Fields may not appeal to Buddyhead’s male-demographic faithful (99.1%) whose interests are centered around the rock genre. However, if you’re more of a romantically-inclined personality looking for a desert-lazy soundtrack for those restless nights, The Afterlife makes for a good companion.

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