Some bands try hard to hide their influences, whether by running from them, stealing from the old and obscure (look up “John Williams and Kings Row” on your nearest AI-free search engine if you want an example), or just lying when people ask if they were influenced by so-and-so.
Some bands, however, wear their influences on their sleeves, making a salad out of the different things that inspire them rather than trying to blend everything together into a milkshake. Electric Horseman does that—the salad thing.
It’s a weird coincidence that I decided to really dig into Elton John right before taking this assignment, downloading his first album and listening to it all the way through on my way to work where – ignoring my actual job – I volunteered to write this review after the first ten seconds of the first song.
But unlike Bruno – not much disrespect meant to him and all – this isn’t mere cosplay.
“Return“
We start in an extremely Elton place (Whenever I try not to think about you / Some switch in my mind flips over, makes me feel blue), but by 1:03 we’re somewhere much odder—a little bit slacker rock, a little bit epic, both? Like transubstantiation, but instead of body and blood we’ve got grandeur and sweaters at once, followed by the hard-plucked electric you’d expect on a George Jones record. It’s better listened to than explained, honestly, but it fucking works.
Especially in the bridge section, we get this not-exactly-a-preset synth sound for a solo and it is absolutely perfect. Fist pump at the end of the movie style.
“Night Alliance“
“Night Alliance” brings us out of Elton country and into something a bit more Neil. The mixolydian verses certainly help with that impression, but we get out of it by the chorus which is much more driving. The big harmonies and the circular verses with that interruption for the choruses makes this nearly six-minute song feel brisk and easy to hit repeat on.
“Colliding Moons“
It’s hard to imagine this band on anything other than a big stage with lights and production, there’s so much grandeur. From the opening drum fill, we’re in this massive sonic space which slips away temporarily for the verses, and then we’re back up in another big harmony chorus.
“Frosted Glass“
“There’s flowers behind that frosted glass
The colors shimmer through
I know there is something, still it’s just a guess
The colors shimmer through“
A good bit softer than the previous song, we’re getting an acoustic-led tune here, rather than piano and full-band stuff. This whole record does an exceptional job with keeping instrumentation varied, not only in terms of which instrument forms the core of the sound of each song, but even the approaches and sounds used by those instruments. Generally you get a guitar player with a ton of variety, or a keyboard player with a ton of variety, but not both.
“Hideaways“
Bold choice, doing three slow-ish tunes in a row. We don’t get any singing until 43 seconds in, putting this firmly in the anti-Tik-Tok-farming camp.
Man, I’m such a sucker for big spread harmonies. “Hideaways” provides the sort of chorus you can figure out singing along to even if it’s your first time hearing the song
Only complaint here, and it isn’t really a complaint so much as a specific picadillo I have because of childhood nightmares, but can we stop doing the thing in music where we put indistinct voices talking in the background? Always gives me the heebies and the jeebies.
“Phoenix“
Hell yeah, man, we’re back in the groove. Spaghetti western with a kiss of The Killers — what a fun mix of vibes. The production on this track — and on the whole record, honestly — is really well balanced. It’s nice listening to an album you can trust to turn up a bit more than normal, knowing they won’t surprise you with a shotgun blast of horns or guitar to the ear.
“Ghosted“
Ghosted is, while mellow, a great mid tempo groove. I hope Sebastian — the drummer for Electric Horseman — sits back and feels like a badass about his work on this album, because he fucking nailed it. The drumming on every tune is exactly what’s needed, and the fills are both thrilling and incredibly musical. The grooves here are full of information but never busy, always getting into the groove of the tune and never overstepping.
“I think I’m doing well
without getting any response
it’s hard to leave with loaded guns“
“On Your Isle“
Filip said if I put one more meme into this review I’d get fired, so I’m going to refrain but… You know what it is.
“On Your Isle” captures Electric Horsemen’s sound really well—this blend of singer-songwriter, Elton-Neil-Flowers, and theatrical alt-rock with some spaghetti western soundtracking thrown in for good measure. The blend, more milkshake than salad here than elsewhere, works exceptionally well.
Overall, a really fun record, give or take a ballad, depending on your preferences. Who doesn’t love a slow dance? If that’s you, the front and back ends of Under the Weather will still really do it for you.
Written by Willow Stonebeck
