Rishi Dihr is a renowned sitar player who has played with the likes of the Black Angels on their drone and doom-filled opus Directions To See A Ghost. And almost unsurprisingly, Dihr’s band Elephant Stone quickly won over fans and the blogosphere with the release of their self-titled sophomore effort, which used elements of traditional Eastern instrumentation with contemporary Western songwriting and instrumentation to create a densely buzzing and hypnotic drone.  

The Montreal, QC-based band’s third and latest release Three Poisons reflects a decided change in sonic direction while retaining some elements of the sound that helped win them over – “Knock You From Yr Mountain,” one of the album’s initial grouping of singles is as expected psychedelic, but it manages to sound as though it borrows a bit from the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, thanks to the backing vocals at the end, which adds a bit of soul to the otherwise trippy proceedings. And much like Pink Floyd, the song has a very direct social message – that it’s going to be time for the little guy to knock his oppressor down of their mountain. To me, the song sounds as though it could have easily come out in the 1960s as much as it sounds as though it came out yesterday.