Elevator Action are an exciting band. They hail from Charlotte North Carolina and are released on the label MoRisen. They are a incarnation of power-pop, forged from the very anvil which is bound to fuel our current popular culture. The band is raw and full of energy. Although they are exciting when you put in their album, eventually it comes to light that they are nothing more than another group bringing simplicity and energy to a already saturated revival in rock and roll music.



The band has been througt a lot making the album though. The deceptive lyrics, if you listen carefully, are full of hints and clues as too their infliction. Singer/Songwriter Eric Gilstrap cuts through a barrage of guitar, bass, and drum with a voice projected right from the confused youth of our age. The man speaks from what he knows and it is successful.



"Surely You Know" opens the album well with a confrontation of sorts. Gilstrap pleads and offers his promises against a backdrop of ripped and torn guitars shelling out quick bursts of powerful accents. The song builds in a linear way and we surely do know what is to come of the song, it'll end with a nice, chanting, catchy finale. It's great though; after Gilstrap's screaming and wailing, the guitars pumping out lead heavy riffs, the drums keeping a quick and rapid rhythm, it's a relief for the band to spread the tune out as wide as it can go and put their troubles away. An organ signals all this wonderful chan ting and then before you know it the song is over. The rest of the tunes seem to follow this kind of formula.



The metal inspired "Nuvo" has Gilstrap screaming until his voice cracks, "She only gets me stoned/ We only die alone". The song is catchy and appealing but nothing clicks; it's just there, and you can take it or leave it. "Start A War" is a fitting song for our day in age. The rest of the songs are more of the same; cryptic lyrics, blaring guitars, Gilstrap wailing and pushing his wild John-Wozniak-meets-Karen-O-esque voice in and out of sing-a-long choruses and through predictable rhythms. It's nice, really.



The songs which redeem the album come at the end and open up the band to a more interesting avenue. The first song, "Vicious Hands", sounds pretty familiar but when Laurie Ruroden starts singing along with Gilstrap it breathes a new life into both voices. Ruroden is a simple female vocalist but her inclusion on this track brightens things up considerably and it is a wonder she doesn't get more time behind the microphone. The final, and probably most interesting song, "Breaking Glass Plans" brings the sounds of the Savannah out with only a few simple accents on the guitar and a sparse rhythm for the opening. When the chorus comes along is sounds like an iron giant stomping through the desert, and it's more than just nice. Mix this with Gilstrap's usual painful vocals and his abstract verses and you have an interesting song.



Elevator Action doesn't cease to please but when it comes to powerful pop, I find very little powerful with this album. The group is a fine unit, producing a steady stream of sub-conscious lyrics, with a deep and dirty grunge guitar sound, and fueled by a an unmistakable rhythm. But that's it. Don't expect to find revelations and insights in their tunes. They're just a power-pop band, and if power-pop was a boat, I wouldn't sail it.











Track Listing

1 Surely You Know

2 Nuvo

3 Start A War

4 The Pleasure's All Mine

5 Common Days

6 Miss Congeniality

7 Don't Believe

8 Call Me Transistor

9 Secret Society

10 Vicious Hands

11 Breaking Glass Plans