ELEPHANT HOUSE PONY RIDE 'Pony Ride' is the debut release from the London-based Sino-Greek psychedelic drone combo ELEPHANT HOUSE. It features digital drums and vocals from Shenggy Shen and melancholic synthesisers and guitars from Christos Fanaras. The track Shuidiao Getou is a cover of a traditional Chinese folk melody accompanying the Ci poem 'Prelude to the Water Melody' by Su Shi. The other track titles on 'Pony Ride' reference the traditional Mongolian coaxing rituals used to encourage female camels into accepting new-born calves. Coincidentally the duo are named after the cafe in Edinburgh that is the birth place of the Harry Potter series. Shenggy Shen is the former drummer with China's first all-female punk band Hang on the Box. She has since gone on to establish herself a noise artist, as a member of the avant-duo White (with Zhang Shou Wang from Carsick Cars) whose self-titled debut was produced by Blixa Bargeld. Her solo music has also been released on Noise Joy and Little Sound. Shenggy can also be found playing drums on the Masters 7" 'Rutger Hauer / Scatman Crothers' also released on Adaadat. Christos Fanaras follows in the Greek lineage of ambient pioneers, like Vangelis and Iasos only with an emphasis on deep dark brooding soundscapes and space-age melancholia. He has recorded and released 7 solo CD albums on his own imprint Down Is Up sometimes under the moniker Jack Shirt. Alongside M.K. Hauser, Christos is one half of the project Masters both having previously played together in the band Agaskodo Teliverek. He also recently collaborated with Mark Wagner on his audio/visual drone project Chosen Frequencies. Christos also played bass and synth in Mothlite, drums in hypnagogic anti-band Temper Temper. He has shared the stage with musicians such as Alexander Tucker, Charles Hayward, Adam Bohman, Carla Bozulich, Alex Ward and Steve Noble and with bands such as Die Munch Machine, Grumbling Fur and Sunday Mourning. This record is a co-release with Beijing label Drum Rider, a launch party is going to take place on Thursday April the 27th at Mascara Bar in Stoke Newington. "Elephant House operate in inflections and implications; like scrapbooks detailing transcendent experiences, these tracks are rich in sensation and ambiguously light in comprehension, pulling together disparate accounts of inner awakening in a bid to identify the common thread between them." Jack Chuter (ATTN Magazine) "Pony Ride is a subtle album where texture and melody combine to supremely pleasant effect, filling out the sound spectrum with subtle details that always seem to have been placed just so." Linus Tossio (Freq) 12" Vinyl (Limited to 300 copies) Tracklisting : (Click on the titles to play the tracks) SIDE 1 : 01. camel mom 02. desert hole 03. ok 04. dead sand SIDE 2 : 01. pearl 02. shuidiao getou 03. pony ride Elephant House are : Shenggy Shen (Digital Percussion & Vocals) Christos Fanaras (Guitars & Synths) Illustration by Christos Fanaras Photo By Wendy Bevan Links : Elephant House (Facebook) Elephant House (Soundcloud) Shenggy Shen (Soundcloud) Christos Fanaras (Soundcloud) Track by Track (Ransom Note) Shenggy and Christos were interviewed on the Club Integral show on Resonance FM you can listen to it via the Mixcloud widget above. The Elephant House segment starts at 11.15 mins.