Fischer und Hansen’s Darkly Downtempo “elephant’s room” is an Eloquent Expression of the Horrors We Accept as Normal

Fischer und Hansen make a very unconventional and tricky rhythm work on the “elephant’s room” single. Plucked strings, shuffling percussion and a vocal accenting at unusual angles to the main dynamic expands the sonic possibilities of the track in a way that becomes obvious as other electronic elements make their way into the backdrop: droplets of sound, wavering, distorted drones, echoing, phased washes of white noise. Along with the atonal hovering tone in the distance at the beginning of the song, all of these compositional details bring a sense of playful menace. Maybe the expression of the elephant in the room referring to the unspoken topic people are trying to avoid was taken conceptually to another level as a concept guiding this song as it builds a great sense of tension and release by the end when the chorus repeats “It’s no natural environment.” That statement alone in this creeping, slow seething downtempo track seemingly about the forces putting pressure on us daily that we ignore to our peril just trying to get by succinctly spells out how just because we’re used to something pervasive in our world and tolerate it doesn’t mean it’s actually normal, a condition of the world we must accept or natural at all. Listen to “elephant’s room” on Spotify and connect with Fischer und Hansen on Instagram.