For 15 years, Brooklyn's Elysian Fields have been reliable purveyors of dream-pop and alt-rock noir. Singer Jennifer Charles exudes a forbidding cocktail-dress cool; her slick presentation conceals uneasy psychological themes. Think Mazzy Star on a serious Bad Seeds binge. The band has collaborated with many leading lights of the American pop avant-garde-- Marc Ribot, John Lurie, John Zorn, and Mike Patton-- while guitarist Oren Bloedow has backed up demanding traditionalists like Dr. John and Lizz Wright. But Elysian Fields remain a cult act in the States, a condition that Last Night on Earth seems unlikely to change.
At heart, Elysian Fields are doing what they've always done: recruiting prestigious collaborators (the Antibalas horns, Jeff Buckley drummer Matt Johnson, and members of Bon Iver and Antony and the Johnsons) to back Charles' slinky chanteuse vocals. The group still gets the lead out sometimes: "Red Riding Hood" is a Grinderman-style seether complete with blues harmonica and a croaking Nick Cave impression, and "Chance" bounces on a glinting knife-edge of electric guitar. But more atmospheric styles have risen to prominence, like the foggy old-world folk of "Johnny" and the chamber-pop of "Chandeliers". Unfortunately, this mostly positive evolution comes with a problematic one in Charles' singing style, which is too blurry to work as a focal point.
I know this is sacrilege: Charles defines this band, and she can certainly sing. But the exaggeratedly breathy and heavily ornamented style she cultivates here overshadows the diversity of the music with a uniform cloud of affectations. Compare these frilly flutters and meanderings with early songs like "Star" and "Jack in the Box", where Charles carved a svelte, forceful path through the band's chugging alt-era grooves, to hear how her cosmetic decorations sap the music's elemental vitality. She sounds fresh and inspired when she sings a bit straighter, as on "Sleepover", a breezy concoction of guitars, horns, and martial percussion; the title track also accrues a spacious, soulful momentum. Between these dynamic bookends, solid musical ideas are too often dissolved in expressive scribbles. Last Night on Earth should do well with those already invested in Elysian Fields-- and they are legion, especially in Europe-- but newcomers may need to start with 1996's Bleed Your Cedar to figure out what the big deal is supposed to be.
