KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
Label: Universal
Verdict: A quick shot of feel good fun.
Elemeno P may have had a string of hits, but the band has always come across as a novelty act; a bunch of musicians clowning around, with little substance behind them.
Their third album - self-titled and self-produced - shakes that feeling once and for all. It is a short and sweet collection of rollicking pop-rock that defies you not to smile as you tap your foot to the beat.
Peppered with hand-claps and foot-stomping, the band deliver the local feel-good album of the year, even when delving into slower, slightly sadder, waters.
The gentle, guitar-driven rhythm of Better Days is a slow-building anthem of hope, while Anna Don't Let Go, continues down the melancholic, melodic path, revealing a previously unseen depth to their music. Of course, there are still plenty of the band's signature sing-along tunes, including the first single Baby Come On and the drunken sea shanty-like Loaded Gun.
Louder Louder brings a distinct gypsy-folk flavour to the mix and is an undoubted highlight of the CD, along with the anthemic opener Beverly Laurel, with its slowly crescendoing beat.
Recorded in a small studio in Mt Eden, it is the band's first recording under their sole direction and easily their best to date.
