The Elk is a big giant chuff-off deer, native to North America and whereever else Wikipedia cares to tell me, and is famous for two main things. Firstly, they are bloody big. Secondly, they use a technique called Bugling during the mating season, which basically involves throat-screaming louder than other Elks in order to establish dominance over other males, and get a bit of female Elk loving, if you get my very literal snowdrift. So, with that in mind, i started listening to the brand spanking new self titled album from Elks expecting to hear some kind of grindcore being shot out my speakers, or at least a wall-of-noise thrash band, one of the (far too) many that are constantly floating in and out of the underground music scene. Happily, i got neither.What Sam, Rob, Ben and Dan from London (2 north laandan /2 south laandan apparently, so in this reviewer's eyes their band is from Central laandan, innit?) have managed to achieve with this collection of songs is an album that is both instantly attractive to the ears, and slow burning enough to warrant multiple listens. Take a dash of MeWithoutYou, add a few assorted body parts from UK alt-stars Secondsmile, throw some Arcade Fire instrumentation and top with the vocal chords of Goodbooks' lead crooner, and you get a completed Frankenstein's musical monster that manages to only scratch the surface of what this band have offered to us. Musical references spanning year-long gaps fly by song by song, showcasing stunning diversity, and this matched with raw, sometimes brutal production leads to an intriguing and satisfying listen. Album opener 'Sorry For The Inconvenience' sees vocals flitting between soothing and taunting, and then going stark bollock crazy and throwing everything in your face. Passionate, taut, and loud. Some might even call that Bugling. If he was an Elk, he would have been Bugling away at that point. But he isn't.Anyway.Tracks like 'London', with its warm instruments and male/female harmonies, and 'German Lessons' (which sounds like Reuben if one of their distortion pedals had broken) show that Elks can throw contrasts around with such grace and vigor, yet not once in the album does it come across as forced. The album does dip a bit in quality with 'Independant Bodies', which sounds slightly forced and a bit grating over a 5 minute plus timespan, but it shortly redeems itself with 'A Strong Confident Woman', a gentle dual guitar led ditty that soars into almost post-rock territory. Even at its loudest points 'A Strong...' manages to retain the feeling of its introduction, and its this strength of purpose that gives Elks such gravitas in the current uk post-alt-whatever scene where bands can all too easily get lost in waves of junk pedal noise and twiddly delay taps.Props also go to Elks for closing this particular effort not with the standard slow song, but for sticking to their guns and delivering 'The Man'. "There's a man over there, who claims to be read by all the worlds countries and the few outside of it" is the refrain that punctuates this song during its 'drop out to vocals only' moment. I don't understand what that means (and i won't pretend to) but this album finisher didn't feel a bit contrived, even with screams, 'drop out to vocals only' moments and guitar mashing galore, and that's all that matters. With 'Elks', Elks have managed to come across as a genuine, challenging yet catchy band, and therefore also a genuine hope for growing into one of Central Londons premier loud/quiet noiseniks. They still have a few creases to iron out, but they will all, i imagine, be steamrollered over instead as the band goes from strength to strength over time. And with no antlers in sight either. Although one of them had an awesome moustache in one of their press shots, so i hope that counts. 76%Elks On Myspace