Pretty Girls Make Graves--Elan Vital

Almost digging themselves a grave from the get-go, Seattle-based Pretty Girls Make Graves kick off their Élan Vital album with "The Nocturnal House," a haunting and twisting melody, laced with a whistle. It’s almost their calling card, unusual interments thrown in at the most unexpected places. "The Magic Hour" is a song purely reserved for these sounds and instruments that didn’t make it in elsewhere, it is the most screwed up dream you’ve had with an exotic Far East parade thrown in.

Take away the whistles and elephant-call brass and Pretty Girls Make Graves blend the lines between experimental and traditional indie. Vocals can be bouncy and informative like in "Parade," an odd call-to-arms, or distant and haunting such as in "Pyrite Pedestal." The instrumentals remain simple, and touch on shoegaze influences in songs like "Bullet Charm," and most of the songs have minute-long outros of purely shoegazing solos.

While the repetitive shoegaze lines and over-effected nature of some songs lead to boredom, Pretty Girls Make Graves masterfully creates sonic landscapes with minimal effort, relying purely on strong vocals and maturely controlled climaxes. A slow-burner at times, a roller coaster at others, and exotic all the way through, Élan Vital is well-paced, haunting, silly, and bittersweet.

(Published at LosingToday.com)