The Canadian psychedelic band Elephant Stone has released a follow-up of sorts to their 2024 album Back Into The Dream – an album of the remains of “what could have been”. Back Into The Garage is comprised of the home demos that frontman Rishi Dhir created during the writing process for Back Into The Dream during Christmas 2021. Dhir calls the album a “collection of charmingly imperfect songs” and a “sneak peek into [his] creative process”. This 10-track album is a delicious display of Dhir’s composition and creative abilities.
Back Into the Garage is my first introduction to Rishi Dhir and Elephant Stone. Though listening to an album of demos is an unorthodox introduction to any group, I think that this was actually a great way to meet the band, so to speak. Listening to the rawer and more unedited version of their sound before hearing their polished and refined sound gave me a chance to see more of their unfiltered creativity.
Each track on Back Into The Garage is a great showcase of Dhir’s lyrical prowess and his masterful understanding of composition and his own musicality. Though only 3 songs have been released on streaming platforms, all 10 tracks are available for purchase on Bandcamp. In favor of brevity, I’d like to highlight my favorite parts of the project rather than a full breakdown of each track.
Edge Of The Deep Blue Sea is a whimsical opener. Calm and steady, it is a gentle blend of indie melodics and visual lyricism. Edge Of The Deep Blue Sea describes the narrator as they sit by the seaside contemplating life, watching the waves and a brewing storm. Pastoral and wistful, yet warm in its sonic tones and feelings of hope, Dhir created an inviting introduction to his creative workshopping process. That said, there is an emptiness in the song. The solo after the 2nd chorus feels like it needs a bridge. It feels like the beginning chords to a key-changed bridge, and it seems that there perhaps was a plan for a bridge at one point in time.
The Spark (Demo) takes on more of an indie-rock sound. In some aspects, it feels simpler than Edge of the Deep Blue Sea, but it also feels more complete. Since this song did make its way onto Back Into The Dream, I assume that The Spark (Demo) was more fleshed out from the beginning of the writing process than Edge Of The Deep Blue Sea. I really enjoyed the usage of reverb on this track; I think it really adds to the fullness of the song. The middle section of this project picks up energetically, creating a crescendo/decrescendo through the record. The Spark (Demo) comes just before the peak and midpoint of the album, and I think it is a great lead into the second half of the album.
Pilgrimage (Demo) closes out the album on a more new-agey note than what is found throughout the rest of the album. The instrumentation on this song is my favorite from the whole project. I really enjoyed the incorporation of the traditional Indian instruments, like the sitar, with the synth overtone. It gave a feeling of transcendence and was a really nice conclusion to Back Into The Garage.
This album was a really interesting journey from start to finish. Though the songs featured on this project are unfinished and unrefined, the album as a whole doesn’t feel like it’s unfinished, though this is probably helped by the fact that 7 of the 10 demo tracks ended up being polished and put on the Back Into The Dream. There is a part of me that hopes that Elephant Stone will take the 3 “unfinished tracks” (Edge Of The Deep Blue Sea, Revival, and Be Concerned), edit them, and include them on a future project, but even without the extensive editing process, they hold their own incredibly well.
You can find Elephant Stone on their YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook pages, or their website.
