Elan Vital
- Pretty Girls Make Graves
- Band Name: Pretty Girls Make Graves
- Record Label: Matador
- Release Date: Apr 11, 2006
- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
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Elan Vital is easily the band's most adventurous disc to date. [Jun 2006, p.178]
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There aren't many post-punk influenced bands around that sound as original and as removed from their influences as Pretty Girls Make Graves. There also aren't many that could write an album jammed with so many memorable songs.
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90Amazingly, though Elan Vital easily could've become their resounding Sandinista flop, Zollo's clean vocals, knife-sharp melodies and subtle politically charged songwriting help secure its nomination as Pretty Girls' London Calling.
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80This is repeat-play head music that still manages to hotwire the heart. [May 2006, p.102]
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Takes some weird chances. [Jun/Jul 2006, p.123]
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80The use of electronics, violins, trumpets and a whole litany of instruments at times is difficult to take in, and may indeed be too far a revolution for some.
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80This is the thinking person's dance music with lyrical content to match.
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75Uneven but fascinating. [May 2006, p.92]
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Many of Élan Vital's tracks take their cues from The New Romance's anthemic "This Is Our Emergency," never letting the oddball touches get in the way of the forward momentum.
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It's the sound of the band mutating from the exciting, mysterious person in the club to the partner you pee in front of and take shopping for carpets. [15 Apr 2006, p.35]
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70Elan Vital takes the visceral, intense beauty of... The New Romance and turns it up a notch. [May 2006, p.119]
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65It is, at one time or another, twee reggae, hipster rock-ism, synth-pop balladry, post-Interpol gothickry. It's an inconsistency that's both noble and annoying.
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64The album packages a loosened-up (read: defanged), groove-centric sound, infinitely more urbane but so much more boring, too.
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These initial songs are noteworthy by any measure; the remainder of the album, then, is a bit of a let-down, especially on first listen.
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The artistic forward motion is encouraging and highly commendable, but the results are that of a band with a new lineup in that shaky third album-redefining stage. [#13, p.88]
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They're obviously enjoying success and using it to explore a wider musical range, but they haven't translated that admirable tendency into a coherent vision.
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50Zollo's delivery is as anthemic as ever, though suddenly she seems sedated, which describes this incarnation of PGMG perfectly.
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20An excruciating listen. [May 2006, p.129]
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 11
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Mixed: 1 out of 11
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Negative: 2 out of 11
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AlexandriaC10andrea is a very talented singer, and will continue to portray this, even though the band has split. this deserves a 10.
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dasmith10There best yet.....I like pyrite pedestal and selling the wind the best I think.....
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Tom7