Next week will see the release of the new album from Elephant Micah, Where in Our Woods, out via Western Vinyl on 1/20. Today, the entire gorgeous affair is being streamed on Consequence of Sound.
Where in Our Woods is defined by its limited palette, creating a painstaking work of minimalist folk. The arrangements foreground nylon-string guitar and an antique portable pump organ. A stripped-down drum set (played by Matthew O’Connell, Joe’s brother), a baritone ukulele, a toy recorder, and harmony vocals (sung by Will Oldham, a friend of and key influence on O’Connell) round out the sound. This sparse ensemble leaves O’Connell’s voice room to breathe, while elevating and magnifying the poetry of his songs.
The album follows an ensemble cast of human and animal characters as they negotiate the supernatural and the mundane: “Light Side” catalogues a friend’s search for sublime experience through a self-described “redneck mysticism” involving in drugs, sex, and travel. “Rare Beliefs” and “Demise of the Bible Birds” explore the world of a “Bible Bird Man” from Noblesville, Indiana, who trained exotic birds to perform stunning Christian-themed stunts. “Albino Animals” is a modern day journalistic ballad, summarizing three stories found in one edition of O’Connell’s hometown newspaper: readers responding to the recent slaying of an albino deer, husband-and-wife meth cooks escaping federal prosecution based on an error in legal process, and a rower with local roots attempts a transatlantic passage that ends in disaster. “Slow Time Vultures,” which some may call an album centerpiece, was inspired by the descent of hundreds of migrating vultures on O’Connell’s parents’ farm in southern Indiana. At the time of this avian congress, state government was instituting the observance of daylight savings time for the first time in Indiana. As O’Connell explains, “Maybe it goes without saying that the unexplained appearance of a sky full of vultures might seem like a harbinger of doom. I wondered if it related to the time change. At its core, this song is in the tradition of American country songs that express indignation toward the idea of progress.” Throughout the album, O’Connell deftly transforms the stuff of everyday American life into a series of entrancing meditations on culture, nature, religion, and modernity.
“Joseph O’Connell’s tracks are sparse yet magnetic” – Noisey
“Baited by folk-rock mores, six dense songs of spider-webbed impressions. Often profound, rarely pat.” – SPIN
“[‘Slow Time Vultures’] is s a quiet, almost insular tune that pairs O’Connell’s subdued voice with spare acoustic guitar and swells of a pump organ. The ghostly melody hangs like early morning haze as the song unfolds over seven and a half minutes.” –The Wall Street Journal
“The poignant lyricism and proximity of Elephant Micah’s melancholy vocals create a soundscape that demands attention to every word until only the sound of his acoustic guitar and a buzzing organ somewhere in the background slowly carry the song to its end.” – Stereogum
“Beyond the simple, yet always catchy melodies composed of O’Connell’s deft strums and plucks lies lyrical magic.” – KEXP
“It seems impossible in the internet age for a “best-kept secret” to exist, but somehow, Indiana’s Elephant Micah fits the bill.” – PopMatters
“Loose, intuitive, unafraid to leave space and take chances when there are plenty of safer and more orthodox options. The small miracle is that these musical digressions never undermine the basic strengths of the songs, nor impinge on a warm, engrossing and, to be honest, pretty mellow mood.” – UNCUT
“Carefully plucked guitar melodies and slow vocals make Elephant Micah’s Americana folk songs gently sleepy with an underlying intensity…It’s fantastic music steeped in mystique and fable-like quality.” – WNYC Soundcheck
“‘Slow Time Vultures,’ which comes from O’Connell’s upcoming record, Where in Our Woods, is a slow-moving dirge that perfectly captures the omnipresent melancholy of living through a gray Midwestern winter.” – Grantland
