Development
The album is split into two CDs: Elephants, featuring a darker, more vulnerable and intimate tone, which is said to be more similar to Yamagata's debut, Happenstance ; while ...Teeth Sinking into Heart, shows a grittier, more cynical side of the artist, who has described it as "this mix of Pulp Fiction surf guitar, PJ Harvey [and] Tom Waits-flavored rock tunes which would be great to play live but ... just developed into this entity that would break the beauty of (Elephants)." [1] The album contains fifteen tracks (one of them hidden), ten appearing in the first disc, Elephants, and five in ...Teeth Sinking into Heart. [2]
However, the Japanese release of the album consists of a single CD, containing sixteen tracks (the aforementioned fifteen tracks plus a bonus, "Jonah", not included in the American release.
Most of the album was produced by Mike Mogis, known for previous works with artists such as Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, and The Faint, among others. John Alagía, who produced Yamagata's first album, Happenstance, has also produced two of the tracks in this record ("What If I Leave", and "Horizon"). [3]
Release
The release of this album comes over four years after Yamagata's debut album Happenstance ; this delay was caused by changes at her original label, RCA, which ultimately led her to be released from her contract there. She has also changed managers during that time. Yamagata is now signed with Warner Bros. Records.
On August 26, 2008, Amazon.com and iTunes released a four-track EP, called Selections from Elephants...Teeth Sinking into Heart, which contained two tracks off each part of the album ("Elephants" and "Sunday Afternoon", from Elephants; and "Sidedish Friend" and "Accident", from ...Teeth Sinking into Heart).
On October 9, 2008, a two-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, featuring the songs "Faster" and "Sunday Afternoon". [4]
The first single off the album was "Elephants" and the video for the song was released on September 16, 2008.
The album was subsequently released in Japan on October 22, 2008 and in the UK on March 2, 2009.
Critical reception
Elephants...Teeth Sinking into Heart had been widely acclaimed by most critics. The album received a score of 72/100, with generally favorable reviews on the site Metacritic. In a glowing review, Andrew Leahey of Allmusic called Yamagata "one of the strongest songwriters to emerge during the early 21st century" while praising the song "Elephants" for its lyrical intensity. Billboard magazine in its review described the album as "an ambitious two-part album" and noted the contradictory yet effective musical styles between Elephants and ...Teeth Sinking into Heart.
Will Hermes of Rolling Stone magazine also noted the different musical direction and themes between the two discs on the album. He commented that Elephants is "a hushed mood piece that's all wet vowels and damaged love" and ...Teeth Sinking into Heart is "filled with rock & roll bite and gloves-off verses" while stating that Yamagata had pushes past familiar singer-songwriter fare into bolder regions with the album.
In another review on the site LiveDaily, the album is said to "chronicles the perils of heartache and, after time, the subsequent realignment of a love life through a creative two-part album". David Peisner of Spin magazine in his review said that the album "unwinds like a melancholy film score" and added that Yamagata is "more convincing as a moper, but the album's alternately punchy and slinky conclusion is heartening proof that she's no quitter".
Entertainment Weekly gave the album a rating of 'B−' and stated that the problem with the album lies in its two-part structure but were impressed by Yamagata's delivery of the songs. In the same review, the song "Elephants" was reviewed as being a standout and was stated as "belongs in the canon of great spurned-lover songs".
Evan Sawdey of PopMatters however, wasn't impressed with the album. He reviewed of disc Elephants "the kind of bland, ballad-heavy disc that Yamagata had avoided so gracefully thus far in her career, and it’s really a sad sight to see her finally succumb to such whims". Although dissatisfied with the first disc, Sawdey was impressed with ...Teeth Sinking into Heart and stated that the second disc "with its brisk running time, Teeth leaves you wanting more".
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