Joe Satriani had an admirably productive workingman’s holiday, forced time away from the road that ultimately produced his new album, The Elephants of Mars, as the final result. Joe’s version of carpe diem seems to be continuously in play, a mantra ready to shift into position no matter what the exact circumstances might be.

 

The Elephants of Mars, the virtuoso guitarist’s 18th studio solo album and his first for earMUSIC, sprang to life as an unexpected worldwide pandemic enveloped the globe. Like so many others, the San Francisco musician had a busy year planned.

 

Shapeshifting, his then-current album, was set for release in April of 2020. The usual Satriani cycle of album, tour, album, tour, meant that he was gearing up to circle the planet in support of the highly anticipated record. Instead, he had a new date added to the tour schedule. Home.

 

Initially, he had the idea that they would wait it out in regards to the pandemic, staying occupied by recording “two loose albums” as they lay in wait for the day that they could get back to the road and promote Shapeshifting. One would be an instrumental and one would be structured around vocal material.

 

Both would showcase and introduce his new band so that when they did finally get to tour, fans would be aware, “This is what they can do.” He even planned to just give the new music away at no cost. As the pandemic period lengthened, he realized that it made more sense to change focus and work on making the next proper instrumental album instead.

 

Satriani and his touring band, all recording remotely in separate areas of the world during lockdown, deliver an album length journey that never dulls. The Elephants of Mars crackles with an exciting new energy, briskly traveling through stylistic roads that feel freshly updated, viewed through new eyes.

 

From the outset, Satriani set goals for himself. “I've done a lot of records that have swung back and forth stylistically,” he admits. The guitarist had an aim to create a “new standard” when it came to crafting an instrumental guitar record. There are a lot of different ways to do that, he allows, mentioning jazz, fusion and rock records, in addition to “the current crop of young, brilliant players, ”who are playing “all kinds of stuff.” Recognizing all of this, he notes, “I am a product of my generation, and I am the end result of all these influences.”

 

He strove to openly challenge himself to move away from what he describes as “the classic rock” tone of the past few albums he’s put out, replacing that with “a new platform of his own design. “Okay, I know what everybody else is doing. But I want to be in this new area,” he explains. “I do want to show people that the instrumental guitar album can contain far more complexity of creative elements than I think people are using right now.”

 

The band for The Elephants of Mars marries players from Satriani’s universe both past and present. Legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Fogerty, The Smashing Pumpkins) is back for his second consecutive tour of duty with the guitarist following his initial debut on Shapeshifting and bassist Bryan Beller slips inside the liner notes for the first time since 2015’s Shockwave Supernova.

 

From the gripping, sci-fi madness of “Through A Mother’s Day Darkly,” to the isolation felt in a decaying urban landscape, as depicted in the first radio single, “Sahara”, to the general endorphin levels that peak as the elephants roar in the title track, The Elephants of Mars will stampede across your mind, leaving a sonic imprint that doesn’t fade.

 

Originally envisioned as a vocal piece,“Sahara” is the album's opener and immediately demonstrates that Satriani and his band are pushing deep into previously uncharted territory, quickly building out a cinematic soundscape that both musically and rhythmically feels as if one is surrounded by desert-like desolation. “It was all about a person who was completely lost, feeling totally isolated. He's walking the streets of an area like Gotham, in New York City. And there's nobody around,” Satriani says, spooling out the initial storyline. “It's almost like a desert, except it's a decaying urban landscape...and then he meets this spirit, and then it gets crazy. We were able to keep some of the melodies that were part of the song's original vocal melodies and it just turned into something that wound up being one of our favorite songs, and we wound up putting it first on the album because we related to it so much.”

 

Thanks to the pandemic removing all time constraints, The Elephants of Mars truly represents the album that Satriani himself hoped he could deliver with his band. “We did everything. We tried the craziest ideas. And we entertained every notion we had about turning something backwards, upside down, seeing what could happen.”