Orange Twin
2004
Walking With The Beggar Boys
About This Album
For a band that once wrote a song called "Simon (The Bird With the Candy Bar Head)," the decidedly un-psychedelic sound emanating from Elf Power's sixth full-length recording, Walking With the Beggar Boys, is more than a deviation -- it's a complete departure. Joining frontman Andy Rieger, multi-instrumentalist and ex-Neutral Milk Hotel member Laura Carter, and drummer Aaron Wegelin are Eric Harris, formerly with Olivia Tremor Control, and Craig McQuiston from the Glands. What sounds like an Elephant 6 love fest is actually an exercise in restraint, and after a few listens Walking With the Beggar Boys reveals itself as a near perfect little pop record. The leadoff single, the instantly gratifying "Never Believe," sets the tone for a set that's closer to Weezer than Of Montreal. The title track, an odd story about hanging out with a gang of beggar children in Warsaw, is a straight-ahead Southern rocker featuring the wonderfully warbly tenor of fellow Georgian Vic Chesnutt. Elf Power maintain their penchant for obscuro lyrics, but this time around the words are wrapped in a blanket of truth that may be a result of their communal record label/land conservation group called Orange Twin -- which currently owns a 150-acre spread of land on the outskirts of Athens that the members are turning into a self-sustainable, low-impact village and nature preserve.
Track List (try tracks 1,2 and 10)

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