On this album, Elan Mehler plays piano and keyboards, while singing like he’s tapping into his inner Tom Waits as he’s joined by guitar wunderkind Bill Frisell, Simon Willson/b, Dor Herskovits/d and a horn section including Eric Stilwell/tb, Paul Melhus/ts, Jeff Cox/tp and various other guests.
Vaudevillian atmospheres have you step right up with Mehler growling out like a carney on “Love In Retrospect,” “Jesus Pants” and the Captain Beefheartian “I’m Not For Everyone,” which pretty well sums up the band’s attitude.
Frisell conjures up eerie effects on “Menagerie Blues” and wacka wookas out “Tu Veux Quelque Chose.” The team shows it can boogie as on “Don’ Make Me Make You Something You’re Not,” and as you can tell by the song titles, he’s got a lot of stories to tell about the shadowlands of life. A trip to the circus and side shows.