Elf Power: Jimmy Hughes , Derek Almstead, Laura Carter, Eric Harris, Andrew Rieger, Heather McIntosh.

Recording information: Pixel Studios, Athens, GA (2007).

Few principle outfits from Athens, Georgia's Elephant 6 Collective have so steadfastly submitted new material as Elf Power. Despite numerous member changes, the core tenets of their art-folk-meets-indie rock repertoire have remained pleasantly in place. Although to be sure, these 11 tracks don't exactly acquiesce to lazy listenability. The inclination toward baroque songwriting is penetrated by nearly lo-fi production, a bit of Marc Bolan guitar boogie, and a constant infusion of strange sounds from soundboards near and far, be it dusty saloon piano or unidentifiable creaking, winding, and watchamacallits. If it weren't for the occasional concession to immediate pop bliss, as on "Softly Through The Void" (which is unavoidably reminiscent of early R.E.M. janglers like "Shaking Through"), CAVE would sound like it was recorded in just that, but thankfully it pokes its head out to see the light as often as it burrows admirably idiosyncratic tunnels.

Uncut (p.88) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] few tracks see them flirt with Eno-esque avant garde...balanced out by pretty folk ballads like 'The Demon's Daughter'."