Bandcamp There is a nice irony in a band from Emden, a windblown port town on the German North Sea coast, making a record this steeped in desert-rock iconography, all cactus-and-blacktop cover art and Kyuss-lineage fuzz. But Between Here And Anywhere earns the highway imagery honestly. Eleanore’s second album is warm, organic, unhurried stoner rock, more interested in groove and space than in flattening you, and it plays like a band that knows exactly what it is.
The production is the quiet hero. In a genre that too often chases a brickwalled roar, Eleanore keep things dry and live and genuinely dynamic, the master left with room to breathe so the songs can swell and recede instead of just getting louder. “Rail Tracks” is the clearest example, a warm, crunchy groove with a growling, precise bass and an extended instrumental mid-section that builds real tension, and crucially the roughed-up clean vocals sit inside the mix rather than hovering artificially on top. “Never More” rides an earthy blues-tinged swagger with excellent instrument separation, and “Greetings” opens the palette widest, ambient clean picking giving way to shouted eruptions and stereo-doubled choruses, the closest the record comes to post-metal.
What holds it at solid rather than spectacular is a certain sameness of texture and a mix that leans warm at the expense of punch. A persistent low-mid emphasis around 150 to 400 Hz means the densest choruses can smear a little, and the record noticeably lacks the modern sub-bass shove that would make the heaviest moments land physically. A couple of tracks (“Time,” “Oh Lord”) sit dynamically flatter than the best ones. This is comfort-zone stoner rock, executed with warmth and taste, rather than a record reaching for something new.
None of which is a complaint so much as a description. Between Here And Anywhere is a genuinely enjoyable, well-played, well-recorded stoner record from a band with a real feel for the slow build and the honest live take. It travels familiar terrain, but it travels it well, and when the groove locks in and the room is breathing around it, that is more than enough.
Standout tracks: Rail Tracks, Never More, Greetings
