Refreshing, vibrant and new sounds created by the wonderful Elephante.

 

Tim Wu, aka Elephante, is known as one of the most refreshing new artists to bring his creative works into the industry. When promoting his new EP I am the Elephante on his social media pages, he stated ‘This project is about stepping out and taking a stand on who you are and what you love, and it’s my first complete statement on who I am as an artist.’  This is no understatement. Listening to his work truly offers a fresh outlook on music. This EP has presented a completely different side to music: vibrant and with songs that are full of colour.

Sirens makes the mixture of electronic and live drum sounds a key feature throughout the song. Darker tones to the drums and electric guitar form a lighter tone when the beautiful vocal harmonies are brought in. The vocal melodies are so uncomplicated and ease in and out of the song. Having the guitar and drum solos feature as the main section of the chorus is an unexpected twist on the very vocal-heavy hooks most EDM artists seem to opt, but amazingly complements the overall sound.

Yet this is not the only time that Elephante puts focus on the instrumentation over the vocals. Towards the end of the EP we discover Black Ivory, the only instrumental track on the whole EP and Elephante uses this as a stunning way of showing off his skills. I would say this is the heaviest dance track too, featuring perplexing drum beats and bass-heavy timbres. It’s reasonable to say that the song brings aspects of heavy metal vibes to the EP. How many EDM artists dare to bring that to the table?

This is not to say that Elephante doesn’t give his due airtime to vocally-driven tracks. In fact, a lot of the album consists of collaborations with vocalists that each deliver a stunning performance. Catching on, for example, is the first of two tracks to feature the singer Nevve. This is a bright and dynamic piece, the airy vocal melody enhances the short motif bursts that naturally play as the hook to the song. Then there’s the edits to the vocals and the way the different dynamics are made obvious through delay and echoed sounds. Elephante knows his way around a vocal line as well as instruments.

The combination of beautiful eery vocals and heavy toned darkened drum and bass beats generate fascinating tunes. This EP needs to hit headlines all over the music industry. The songs seem so effortless and everything within the music complements each other and sounds so right, yet filled with such complexity that each listen will yield a number of previously-unheard nuances. Elephante is unique in what he is doing and is bringing colour, vibrance and – most of all – fascination back to a highly saturated genre.