The third full-length release from Pretty Girls Make Graves is yet another evolutionary leap for a band that is not content with remaining a tribute to their 80's influences. In fact, Élan Vital shows that they're not even willing to be typecast from song to song. If not for the vocals of Andrea Zollo, one could mistake the album as a compilation of different artists - and even Zollo does her best to give off this impression.
Opening with the standout "The Nocturnal House," Pretty Girls seem to have traded in their post-punk sensibilities for intelligently crafted intense rock. Yet, by the time the voice of Zollo turns bubbly on "Pyrite Pedestal," it's obvious that the aural scope of the album will be much larger. This trend continues, from the pure 60's pop of "The Number," to the dark 80's new wave of "Pictures of a Night Scene," to what could have been an outtake from a Garbage album, "Domino."
When experimenting to the extent that Pretty Girls do on this album, the results can sometimes questionable. Although incredibly catchy, "Parade" is horribly misplaced near on the beginning of the album, assuming that it should even be on the album at all. "Selling the Wind" probably suffers more from its placement after the commanding "The Magic Hour" rather than its poor choice of instrumentation - but the accordion certainly doesn't help, either.
THE HAPS: While Élan Vital is unarguably a solid effort, the strength of the first track makes one wonder why Pretty Girls bothered changing directions when writing the rest of the album.
