Elemeno P: Elemeno P

By Shaun Chait

The trail of singles Elemeno P has left on the NZ pop landscape has already cemented their legacy. On album three, the band has traded the punklite-pop riffs for a more rock focused pop sound. Mature isn't the word, but this release is less instant, less sing-along, mostly less memorable, however certainly a progression. At 10 tracks and 36 minutes, it's (maybe unintentionally) also a nod to the fact that the earbud and download generation choose songs over albums. Still, Dave Gibson and Justyn Pilbrow remain amazingly gifted pop songwriters. The brilliant Baby Come On is full on sing-along genius. The reason Elemeno P songs get chosen to literally carry ad campaigns is because they write such damn catchy tunes. The middle section of this album is strong, and towards the end we have the most trademark sounding track Takes A Radical and a gem in the rollicking brilliance of Louder Louder. With the band self-producing for the first time in their self-made Elemeno P Lab (an addition to The Lab in Mt Eden), this album also has a different guitar sound. It was mixed by Sam Gibson with Dan Rejner engineering.

Related Information

Issues

NZ Musician

August/September 2008