For the Night

Cool, hip, vibrant might alone be three words that sum up Elephant Sessions’ forth release, For the Night. Building on the electronica and funk heard in their third album (What Makes You), these musicians have gone all out with electronic synths, clicks and beats aplenty. Scottish tradition meets city nightclub. Euan Smillie (fiddle) and Alasdair Taylor's (mandolin and tenor guitar) catchy and lilting melodies continue an odyssey of re-examining Scottish traditional dance music through new material.

It's the combination with the emotive harmonies (including new additional string sextet), alongside the boldly surging and sliding bass and guitar (particularly mid-way through ‘Ebbe’) of Seth Tinsley that provides such a rewarding listen. So, imagine a rich cinematic score (‘Ebbe’), the tight beats, rhythms and sounds of West Coast urban American music (‘Moonwake’ – thank you drummer Greg Barry), disco (‘After Hours’) or modern nightclub electronica (‘Rebirth’ or ‘For the Night’) with very dancy, often emotively searching tartan jigs – this is the sound of Elephant Sessions. What a shame some richly poetic track titles are not explained through booklet notes – surely there is many a story to tell in words as well as music. A must listen.