For the past year or two, the Massachusetts music scene has been in one of its periodic episodes of rediscovery by the national music media, and with every cycle of interest comes a new opportunity to revisit the glory days of scenes gone by. That’s been particularly easy this time around, since so many newer bands are deliberately referencing Baystate indie touchstones, be it the wry ’90s guitar rock of Speedy Ortiz or the muted jangle-pop of Potty Mouth. One thing those two bands and many of others of note have in common: roots in Western Massachusetts and a strong female presence.  Both qualities also apply in Elephants. While its members live in Newton now, the band, led by guitarist/vocalist Lauren Garant and guitarist Ryan Young got its start while at college at UMass Amherst, around 2011. Its second album, “Strange Waves,” recently released on cassette and celebrated with a performance at Charlie’s Kitchen in Harvard Square last week, finds Elephants bouncing between, and frequently merging, two of the more common reference points in the Boston indie canon: the soft crunch of Helium and the lengthy, squelching soloing of Dinosaur Jr.  The performance at Charlie’s — sound-wise, not exactly state of the art — was either the ideal setting for a band committed to a lo-fi aesthetic or a hamper on the ample melodic prowess in their songs, depending on your point of view. It was the first show that Garant and Young —who’ve got a handful of smaller tours under their belt at this point — played with new members Tracy Putnam and Andy Connors.  That sort of DIY-type environment is fine with Young. “If I had to say I had a preference, I do really like playing houses, where people tend to be there to hear new music and are usually a little more open-minded,” he says.  Among the songs Elephants performed was album highlight “Snowsleds in Valhalla,” a track that hews to its simply constructed side, built around a jaunty, persistent two-chord progression. Other songs like “The Turtles Were Right” are built on a similar template, but with extended J. Mascis-style soloing layered throughout.  “I always worry [that] I don’t want to sound too much like Dinosaur Jr., or any band,” Young says. “But I really like them, and I like the kind of really sustained loud guitars, that guitar sound, that thick solo sound. And we borrow from that tone-wise.” Guided by Voices, the band members say, was a bigger influence, particularly on their self-titled first album from 2013.  They learned to record by playing around with a four-track tape recorder, Garant says. “We’d build the songs up from different parts in a way that’s very DIY and lo-fi. You can take it anywhere and set up some mikes, and that kind of DIY approach to it was really attractive to me.”  The lower-fi sound was both a stylistic decision and a budgetary measure. “Our last album we recorded at a friend’s studio in his house,” Young says. “A lot of that was done digitally, but it’s still kind of a lower-budget sound. I think it sounds great. Part of it is cost, but I don’t really like the sound of that really compressed, shiny, vocals-sitting-high-on-top-of-the-mix. There’s something really nice about a little like the Breeders or something, where the vocals are somewhere in the middle.”  That played into Elephants’ choice to release the album on cassette, as well. “They have that warm tape sound, which I really like hearing myself, and I think it kind of has the right kind of feel for our music,” Garant says. “I also think as an object, a cassette tape, it has a lot of charm to it. It’s kind of nifty. And they’re pretty economical too.”  Both choices are emblematic of the band as a whole: taking notes from the past to make something that sounds like it’s perfectly of the moment.  “Strange Waves” is available now at www.those-elephants.bandcamp.com.
Indie-rock band Elephants, now based in Newton but formed at UMASS Amherst, borrow bits and pieces from favorite Boston rock bands for a striking new lo-fi sound.