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Escape from New York
Elefant hit the road
BY SEAN RICHARDSON

When I get Elefant frontman Diego Garcia on the phone, he’s on his way to play a show in Dallas. The NYC indie-rock upstarts are pulling out of Shreveport, Louisiana, the riverboat-casino town where they just spent a day off. Not exactly the kind of place you’d expect to find glamorous, big-city types like them, but it turns out the flyover states are treating them just fine. "I’ve been told I look more comfortable on stage at these small shows, in the middle of nowhere," Garcia says. "I think it’s even more of an escape for kids who don’t live in New York. That’s what a show should be, anyway: an escape from everybody’s daily routine."

On August 15, Elefant will be a little closer to home: in Boston, for a show at the Paradise Rock Club. The band’s frisky full-length debut, Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid, has been out for a year on the NYC upstart label Kemado, which is also home to the Fever. Superficial descriptions of the group often compare them with the Strokes, with Garcia playing David Bowie to Julian Casablancas’s Lou Reed. That’s fair enough. But then again, Garcia — not Casablancas — was the one who made New York magazine’s 2003 list of Sexiest New Yorkers.

When you consider his burgeoning pin-up status, it’s fitting that Garcia says the gorgeous women in Elefant’s debut video, "Misfit," were rounded up through word of mouth rather than a casting call. The track is a spiky anthem for bruised romantics: "Tell me your name, tell me your story/’Cause I’m into it/Running through life like a misfit." "My intention was to capture that innocence you have growing up," the singer explains. "Think back to when you were 15, driving around with your friends — that’s what it’s all about. I don’t remember writing that chorus. I walked into a room, pressed ‘Record,’ and it came out in a few minutes. A DJ was on the phone with me and he was like, ‘That song is so damn catchy.’ As a songwriter, that’s the ultimate goal. I think there’s some correlation between songs that are catchy, and words and melodies that just come out of your head without thinking."

The wistful closer, "Ester," was inspired by an encounter Garcia had with Spanish supermodel Ester Canadas. "That night when I called you, I was being young," he offers as an apology in the chorus, after their brief flirtation hits a dead end. "I saw her at a bar," he remembers, "and one of her friends gave me her phone number. One night, I thought it would be funny to call her. But apparently it wasn’t very funny, because she was with her boyfriend. I saw her a few days later and she made a scene. I think it’s a cute song. She might have a chuckle if she hears it."

Produced by Tom Clapp, of early-1990s major-label grungers 700 Miles, Sunshine has a crisp, airy sound that harks back to pre-Nirvana alterna-rock. The three guys behind Garcia give one another ample space in the mix, and there are occasional dreamy keyboards to take the edge off. The frontman is proud of the album, but right now he’s itching to get back in the studio. "It’s our first record — I look at it as an introduction. I think people are going to be very surprised by what we can do. The point of this tour is to bust out new songs so we can get them road-tested. It’s amazing how a song can evolve from what you think it is to what it is, just by playing it live."

Elefant perform next Sunday, August 15, at the Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston; call (617) 562-8800.


Issue Date: August 6 - 12, 2004
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