{"id":6213,"date":"2019-04-28T20:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/?p=6213"},"modified":"2019-04-29T22:37:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T22:37:24","slug":"ordinary-elephant-honest-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2019\/04\/28\/ordinary-elephant-honest-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ordinary Elephant- Honest – CD Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by James Killen<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have been following Crystal and Pete Damore (Ordinary Elephant) for a couple of years now and was eager to jump in on their Kickstarter campaign for their newest disc, \u201cHonest\u201d. From the day it arrived, it went to the CD player in my truck and lived there for over two weeks\u2026.honestly. We all expect folk singers to help interpret the things that are going on around us, to take on the issues of society. It seems that nobody told Crystal Hariu-Damore that she didn\u2019t have to take them all on at once.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonest\u201d is a collection of some of the most poignant, imaginative and well written songs that I have heard in a long time. The collection starts out with \u201cI Come From\u201d which is a series of images of Crystal\u2019s mother arranged in a tribute to her and the childhood that she gave to Crystal. \u201cScars that We Keep\u201d is a very powerful narrative that tells of prejudice that many of us are born into and that we must learn to overcome. I am in awe of Crystal\u2019s imagination in songwriting as she turned a visit to the Viet Nam memorial wall in DC into a very personal story of a veteran and his struggles with PTSD in \u201cThe War\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Damores present a very real depiction of the things that go through a person\u2019s mind in everyday life as they struggle with depression on \u201cShadow\u201d. \u201cJenny and James\u201d are two more characters that are fleshed out with details that bring them to life in a song about a bi-racial couple, or really any star-crossed lovers. \u201cHarriet\u201d is outwardly a song about a horse, but is also a historical peek into what life was like during reconstruction and the westward expansion. \u201cI\u2019m Alright\u201d is a tribute to a friend that became a courageous inspiration as she faced a terminal disease.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWorth the Weight\u201d is a fine song about perspective and deciding what parts of life are important and teaching that perspective to children. \u201cRust Right Through\u201d takes a hard look at the things in our life that we come to depend on and what happens when those things are no longer there.<\/p>\n

The tune that took me to task emotionally the most from this album is \u201cIf I\u2019m Being Honest\u201d. It deals full on with what it is like to balance a child\u2019s innocence with the social issues that are threatening a world of love and justice that we would wish for our young ones. Ordinary Elephant ends \u201cHonest\u201d with \u201cHope to be that Happy\u201d, a tribute to the positive outlook that Crystal\u2019s grandmother had in her later years.<\/p>\n

As I sit and read back over the thematic abbreviations of the songs that I\u2019ve written here, I can\u2019t help but feel that I\u2019ve cheapened them somehow. A listener needs to hear all of the lyrics, framed by the unique harmonies and Pete\u2019s simple but powerful instrumental flourishes to really appreciate the art of \u201cHonest\u201d. I have spent hours listening to this record in detail and I don\u2019t anticipate tiring of it.<\/p>\n

I heard Crystal explain where the band name came from at a performance recently. She said \u201cThere is no such thing as an ordinary elephant.\u201d As you listen to Ordinary Elephant\u2019s songs, it becomes obvious that they have the vision to see many common things in life as having special significance and worthy of vivid exploration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by James Killen I have been following Crystal and Pete Damore (Ordinary Elephant) for a couple of years now and was eager to jump in on their Kickstarter campaign for their newest disc, \u201cHonest\u201d. From the day it arrived, it went to the CD player in my truck and lived there for over two… <\/p>\n

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