Montreal-based modern psych-pop band Elephant Stone announced a new animated short film, Hollow, out on May 18 via Elephants On Parade. It’s set to accompany the release of a new deluxe version of their critically acclaimed 2020 album of the same name. Directed by Laurine Jousserand, and scored to an orchestral re-interpretation of side A of the album, the movie marries the project’s dystopian themes to a story of humanity’s search for a new home following an apocalyptic event that makes earth uninhabitable. It’s a tale of loss and grief, existential crisis and rebirth, and a world withering away all set to elegant, intense droning music. 
 
The ten minute piece will be released as six acts each week, beginning today with “Act 1: Hollow World.” The band explains, “The soul of mankind is dying. We have lost connection with each other/nature and follow the false ego. It is a truly hollow existence. We fill this emptiness with more emptiness that the powers that be feed us. We destroy the planet without thought of how the next generation will have to pay for our crimes… Then it all ends. A catastrophic event/moment decimates the Earth. We go into panic mode…. A child laments: ‘Goodbye sunshine, hello dark skies, so long clean air, do you care?’”

Elephant Stone was born out of a need for refuge for Rishi Dhir, who has helmed the band for the past thirteen years. After playing in bands such as The Datsons and The High Dials, he picked up the sitar and began writing about personal experiences, leading to a carved out niche in the modern psych-rock genre by infusing it with some pop sensibilities. As a highly-regarded sitar player, Dhir has also collaborated with indie-rock icons like Beck, and legendary cult bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Dream Syndicate, and many more. Dhir’s journey with music, in and out of Elephant Stone, was wrought with trying to find a place that fit him until he decided that what he made was worth sharing in the space that he created for himself. The best kind of music, and the stories paired with those sounds, often begin with that internal excavation. “I only write about what I know and think I understand. As long as there’s Rishi, there’s going to be Elephant Stone.”

Photo Courtesy: Bowen Stead