the new elder release is finally here and again the trio from massachusetts crafted a truly mesmerising piece of art. on their self-titled debut elder had yet to find theirselves but "dead roots stirring" from 2011 and "lore" from 2015 were nothing short of masterpieces. the guys created a mix of heaviness and atmosphere that is unparalleled in the stoner rock genre and beyond. of course i was very excited to hear the band was releasing a new record in early june. that was at some point in march, i believe. almost every day i checked the band's facebook page eagerly awaiting the pre-orders to go live.
in contrast to "lore" where the first press came on black vinyl only, both european (stickman records) and u.s. (armageddon shop) label offered coloured vinyl. while there are several u.s. versions floating around offered by several sources, stickman records made one vinyl edition available. a lovely sea foam green colour-way. as i definitely found one or another u.s. vinyl colour attractive as well, i didn't want to pay up for international shipping. so i jumped at the stickman pre-orders as soon as it was up and at the end of may i was the proud owner of a vinyl copy of the new elder record, called "reflections of a floating world".
what can i say, again elder gave us a record full of spaced out and dreamy progressive rock/stoner hymns. everything is pure gold on this record. if you like bands such as baroness or mastodon, you have found your new favourite band in elder. i am always a bit puzzled as to why these guys don't gain much more recognition. the artwork by adrian dexter is another milestone in his ongoing collaboration with the band. simply beautiful. the art and lettering on the slip sleeve come with a spot gloss print while the white upper bar is of normal cardboard. printed dust sleeves, an insert with all lyrics and nice 180gr sea foam green round out the lovely package. stickman records. 2017.
post scriptum: i am pretty excited to see elder live in hamburg on 24th of july with two good friends. we'll see if the band carries some tour vinyl. so probably there will be more elder vinyl on here soon...
