Elephant Stone
The Three Poisons
Reviewed by: Brian Roser
The first thing I noticed about the first track was the sitar. Nothing wrong with a bit of sitar. Lots of bands use it as a gimmick on some of their tracks. The next song started and there was more sitar. The sound lingers throughout the album and I realized something: far from being a gimmick, the instrument is an integral part of the music.
Frontman Rishi Dhir has studied classical Indian music. The flavor he gives the music is evocative of the later Beatles albums. This however, is an homage and not slavish devotion. He has a mellow voice, but isn’t afraid to change things up a bit. The psychedelic sound of one track will fade out, only to have a rock and roll guitar riff start the next one.
Elephant Stone was started in 2009 and The Three Poisons is album number three for the Canadian Band. This is not the only project he is working on. Rishi has become the go-to guy whenever a band needs a sitar player. He’s worked with so many bands, I get the feeling that every promotional manager has Rishi Dhir’s number on speed dial under ‘sitar’.
The rating “bad-ass” evokes images of raised cigarette lighters and trashed hotel rooms. This is not that kind of band. They do, however, have a great sound, great lyrics and a great command of their instruments. They’ve earned the rating.
Rating: 
