When the Red King Comes
Studio album by
Elf Power
Released1997
GenreIndie pop, indie rock
LabelArena Rock Recording Co.[1]
Elf Power chronology
Vainly Clutching at Phantom Limbs
(1995)		 When the Red King Comes
(1997)		 A Dream in Sound
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Chicago Tribune[3]

When the Red King Comes is the second album by the Elephant 6 band Elf Power.[4][5] It is a concept album about the Red King's kingdom. The cover art is taken from a section of an imaginary map called “The Land of Make Believe”, drawn in 1930 by Jaro Hess. A more complete version of the map can be seen in The Writer's Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands.

"Needles in the Camels Eyes" is a cover of the Brian Eno song.[6]

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote that "though still noisy, the improved sound coincides with a sharper focus in the songwriting (that's good) and the first hint of impending mythological obsessions (not so good)."[1] The Chicago Tribune thought that "in Elf Power's hands, psychedelia is a means of transforming personal trauma into a twisted kind of triumph."[3]

AllMusic wrote that "the fuzzy, lo-fi production is an Elephant 6 hallmark, but the unique instrumentation (electric horns, pump organs, even Nepalese percussion) and cryptic, stream-of-consciousness wordplay suggest something altogether different."[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Andrew Rieger unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Step Through the Portal..."
  2. "...Into the Everlasting Time"
  3. "The Frightened Singers"
  4. "The Secret Ocean"
  5. "The Arrow Flies Close"
  6. "Icy Hands Will Never Melt Away"
  7. "When the Red King Comes"
  8. "The Separating Fault"
  9. "Spectators"
  10. "Introducing Cosmic Space" (Andrew Rieger, Bryan Helium)
  11. "The Bengal Parade"
  12. "Needles in the Camels Eyes" (Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera)
  13. "...The Silver Lake" (Laura Carter)
  14. "It's Been a Million Years"

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 "Elf Power". Trouser Press. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 "When the Red King Comes - Elf Power | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  3. 1 2 Ryan, Mo (30 Jan 1998). "Elf Power When the Red King Comes". Chicago Tribune. Friday. p. 46.
  4. ↑ "Elf Power Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  5. ↑ "The Big Musical World Of Elf Power". MTV News.
  6. ↑ "Elf Power: A rocking foursome". Daily Hampshire Gazette. August 6, 1998. p. 33.



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