Elixir
Drowning Man

Elixir are a young, classically influenced rock band with Led Zep, Pink Floyd, and U2 all listed on their biography and evident in their music. Bass player, Dan Clark, joins brothers PJ, Paul, and John Tierney adding both additional genes and short hair in to the mix as well as some bass guitar (obviously).

‘Drowning Man’ sets the stage with quality musicianship and vocals. The brooding verse contains floating piano sounds and thundering percussion, while the guitars start the first flickers of the big build up that is going to lead us to the chorus. After the chorus, things chug along with an eighties rock rhythm and some decent ambient backing vocals. An extended break-down with suitable build up leads to the big-chorus finish.

Up next is the rock-ballad, ‘Phoenix Rising’, which showcases a bit more lead guitar, and again nods it’s head retrospectively towards it’s influences. The vocals make something of a guest appearance amongst the guitars, to flow effortlessly through a verse and a subdued chorus and then do the same with a bigger version of each.

‘Beautiful Tonight’ is an up-tempo and up-beat track with a great guitar part that gives way to provide a spacious verse before popping back in with that catchy riff yet again. The chorus makes an appearance a bit later in the song as everything builds in layers of instruments, including a rather nifty sequenced keyboard part.

Musically, Elixir are faultless with all the instruments pushing in the right direction. The vocal is also doing things right, being both powerful and melodic. A voice in my head suggests that this might be a little bit too much like some of the big rock bands of the seventies and eighties. There is a missing piece to this puzzle, where something inventive could add a few surprises without ruining what has already been achieved. However, it would be unfair to cast aspersions on an impressive record, with nothing really at fault, so it has to be noted that Elixir have produced the goods on a classic rock single.

Elixir

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Written by Smith on 11th May 2005

Stuart 'Saur' Smith was a prolific writer for The Mag throughout the magazine's lifetime. He combined a day job of temporary office jobs in London with a nightlife of trawling the capital's music venues looking for talent. As well as writing about music, he was a session musician who featured on a number of singles in the 90s. Today, Stuart is a Chief Writer for Phonotonal.