Elastica,
Elastica
(1995)

Hold me now
I need assistance
Why don't you take
the path of least resistance?
Hold me now
Do I need a license
to hold you?

~ Hold Me Now

Here we go again
I'm riding in your car
Let me count to ten
Cos it's gone way too far
Up my street to nowhere
You know what detours are
Here we go again
And it's gone way too far

~ Car Song

You're a cloud short of heaven,
But you know I want you to be mine

~ All-Nighter

Elastica, Elastica (1995)
July 24, 1999

It's a sign of devotion
You made everybody else seem insane
You filled my head with your notions
You made everybody else seem so tame

~ Never Here

Elastica is perfect British power-punk-pop, a real band, playing tight rhythms and riffs, singing sharp lyrics that make you want to play the songs again and again.

The group got together in 1992, three girls and a guy coming out of the traditions of new wave, power-pop, and punk. Their debut album, Elastica, released in 1995, is also, unfortunately, their only album.  For that reason, it's easy for them to slip through the cracks--I wasn't even conscious of them until a friend introduced me to their music recently.   Still, this band's one album is better than a lot of more prolific bands' entire collections of work.  It's definitely one of the most memorable disks of the 1990s, and a must for anyone who likes electric guitars, heavy beats, and sexy songs with attitude.

The songs are short, each one a perfect little self-contained gem.  Sixteen songs on this album, and the entire thing is only 42 minutes long, so you can do the math. But a song doesn't need to be long when it's as potent as an atomic fireball.  The members of Elastica are experts of the short song, and when I read this comment by lead singer Justine Frischman I understood:

"I have a low boredom threshold. I want the best bits, verse-chorus, verse-chorus, that's it. The whole thing of playing two middle-eighths and triple choruses to finish isn't music, it's brainwashing. It's like an ad device to sell a song. If you want to hear the chorus again, rewind it."

Believe me, you'll want to rewind it.

Elastica had radio hits with a few of their songs, like Connection, Car Song, and Stutter, but this is one of those CDs where every song is good.  Their topics of choice are relationships, work, sex, music, dissatisfaction, and betrayal. If the lyrics are any indication, they seem to spend a lot of time sitting in London take-aways in the middle of the night, drinking tea and smoking fags. 

But even if the lyrics aren't profound, they capture familiar feelings with a smartness that leaves me nodding in agreement: "We've been up all night / I can feel a strange attraction / And it's getting light / But I can't spur you into action" (All-Nighter).  There's also a real sense of humor in their music, as you see in these lines from Car Song: "Sometimes I just can't function / My heart's spaghetti junction / Every shining bonnet / Makes me think of my back on it." 

I love every song on this CD, but some highlights are Car Song, Connection, Hold Me Now, Blue, and Stutter. The energy of this music is infectious, and the songs just make me want to dance.

Put this disk in the car and drive. You won't be sorry.

Elastica is
Justine Frischmann (vocals/guitar)
Donna Matthews (guitar/backing vocals)
Justin Welch (drums)
Annie Holland (bass)