Dallas Observer
August 8, 1996
Over And Under
Moss Elixir
Robyn Hitchcock
Warner Brothers
by Matt Weitz and Zac Crain
Genius is the main ingredient in Rock eccentricity: without it, you're Sammy Hagar; too much, and you're Brian Wilson. Robyn Hitchcock has always been one of Rock's great eccentrics, writing songs with a point of view that seems to float out from under a different-colored sky (yet still connective).
Moss Elixir was born out of Hitchcock's growing suspicion that his studio efforts were becoming overly produced. Stripped down to Hitchcock's voice and acoustic guitar -- and only slightly augmented by guests like violinist Deni Bonet and the British band Homer -- Elixir sounds like a cross between 1990's Eye and 1984's brilliant I Often Dream Of Trains.
Elixir ties up Hitchcock's past and present with a neatness that only comes from essence. The roots are still there -- musings on identity ("Man With A Woman's Shadow"), inadvertent Psychedelic iconography ("Beautiful Queen"), and beautiful, evening-colored rumination ("The Speed Of Things") -- but are presented with a warmth that shows that Hitchcock -- at one time fascinated/obsessed with reptilian and insect imagery -- is continuing his exploration of what he once called "the four-chambered heart". Spare, occasionally lonely, and often lovely, Elixir is full of mammalian promise.
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