Montreal psych-rock alchemists Elephant Stone are back with I Got A Pill, the latest preview of their upcoming album ‘ASHA,’ due out August 28 via Elephants On Parade. The track first premiered via FLOOD Magazine and picks up right where previous single Fascists Killed Yer Rock ‘N’ Roll left off — same rot, different angle.
Frontman Rishi Dhir breaks down the concept behind the track: “It’s about demagogues, the populist playbook. Leaders who feed on people’s fear and offer an easy fix. The pill. Take it and your problems go away. Except it doesn’t work like that. It’s control dressed up as relief.”
The Video
Directed by Adam Traynor and featuring handcrafted puppets by Diablo Puppets, the video takes the song’s false promise of escape and runs wild with it — a surreal, technicolor puppet world where characters Futzy, Radis, and Mascot lure viewers deeper into the haze between comfort and control.
Traynor explains: “The lyrics to ‘I Got A Pill’ woo and warn all at once. I wanted to put the sweetness of that voice into the mouth of a Tony the Tiger-type mascot with a special breakfast gift for kids that would be sure to kick off a trip into a sugary Wonderland, a cardboard Oz, an awe-inducing game-world of artificial colours, a Dark Crystal quest for power, a Soylent Green feeding frenzy.“
Watch I Got A Pill below
About ‘ASHA’
‘ASHA’ marks Elephant Stone’s 10th studio album, named after the late mother of frontman Rishi Dhir — Asha means “Hope” in Sanskrit. It’s a meditation on grief, hope, and the friction between sorrow and the darkness of the current moment. Limited edition signed and hand-numbered vinyl is available for pre-order now via Little Cloud Records.
For twenty years, Dhir has been blurring the lines between Western psych-pop and Indian classical tradition, evolving from a 2006 quest for transcendental sound into a singular studio-auteur vision out of his Montreal home studio, Sacred Sounds. Backed by longtime members Miles Dupire, Robbie MacArthur, and Jason Kent, the band’s recent work carries a new raw intensity — shaped by Dhir’s collaborative history with The Black Angels, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Beck, plus his role in psych-supergroup MIEN.
‘ASHA’ track list
- Here Comes The Rising Sun
- Everything Evil
- Fascists Killed Yer Rock ‘N’ Roll
- I Got A Pill
- Broken Arrow
- A Beautiful Fate
- Parallel And Contrary Motion
- Sleepwalking In Prague
- Spirit, Take Me Away (feat. Amy Millan)
On the Road
Elephant Stone are hitting the road hard this fall — a North American run kicking off mid-September, followed by new European dates announced for November. Full tour dates and ticket links are available here.
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 15 | Burlington, VT | Foam Brewers |
| Sept 16 | Rochester, NY | Bug Jar |
| Sept 17 | Troy, NY | No Fun |
| Sept 18 | New York, NY | Mercury Lounge |
| Sept 19 | Washington, DC | Comet Ping Pong |
| Sept 20 | State College, PA | Manny’s |
| Sept 22 | Chicago, IL | Sleeping Village |
| Sept 23 | Detroit, MI | Outer Limits |
| Sept 24 | Toronto, ON | Second Summer Festival |
| Oct 1 | Montreal, QC | Bar le Ritz |
| Nov 2 | Amsterdam, NL | Paradiso |
| Nov 4 | Paris, FR | Le Chinois |
| Nov 16 | London, UK | MOTH Club |
What the Critics Are Saying
“‘I Got a Pill’ maintains the band’s deepest psychedelic instincts while stretching their sound into the realm of radio-ready rock embellished with sitar, tabla, and Hammond organ.” — FLOOD Magazine
“A hypnotic blend of psych-rock and pop, Elephant Stone’s music is both enchanting and haunting.” — Rolling Stone
“Elephant Stone deftly melds Indian classical music with modern psych-rock, creating a unique and immersive experience.” — NPR
“Their music is an alluring fusion of traditional Indian sounds and contemporary rock sensibilities – a true sonic adventure.” — BrooklynVegan
“Elephant Stone’s Rishi Dhir [has] made a career out of channeling personal and collective upheaval into expansive psych rock, sitar in hand.” — Magnet Magazine
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