![imagery in the pedestrian imagery in the pedestrian](https://static.mayorsofeurope.eu/uploads/2021/05/E1lc9P5XMAADCeI-1024x683-1024x675.jpeg)
According to the label’s web page, “artificial countrysides describe the gray zones where the natural world collides with the creeping encroachment of the digital realm, where the balance between real and simulated can shift from one minute to the next”. Artificial Countrysides, their first release through established North Carolina-based indie label Yep Roc, addresses this combination thematically as well.
![imagery in the pedestrian imagery in the pedestrian](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c9/e2/01/c9e20176adb0f82e6baa4793b9b06baf.png)
One of the few bands still active from the legendary Elephant 6 collective, Elf Power have always mixed fuzzed-out off-the-grid living and a wide-ranging pop music palette. More than any other Elf Power recording, Artificial Countrysides leans into the less often mentioned reference of their name: the Earth Liberation Front. Located five miles from Athens, Georgia, supported by the sale of music and merchandise related to the artists it supports, Orange Twin includes an open-air performance space in the woods, and, judging from the lo-fi videos produced for Artificial Countrysides, also makes an irresistible setting for home movies and time-honored camera tricks.
![imagery in the pedestrian imagery in the pedestrian](https://i.pinimg.com/600x315/a0/ae/d1/a0aed1a0db3be1a3cf8c58efcb23aa98.jpg)
Still, making music doesn’t seem like such a bad way to pass the years out at Orange Twin Conservation Community, their self-sustaining “pedestrian-based eco-village” nestled within a 150-acre nature preserve. Sure, as a song on Elf Power’s previous album put it in 2017, there must sometimes be a feeling of “cycling aimlessly through minutes, days, and hours”. What’s it feel like to be a cult indie-pop band releasing their umpteenth album and approaching the end of their third decade? Loyal fans will mostly complain if you try anything different than your early successes critics will mostly complain if you don’t.