Today Elf Power is a five piece band, but starting off in 1994 it was the duo of Andrew Rieger and Laura Carter. The two took their unique view of music and lyrics and with a 4-track recorder turned those ideas into a debut album Vainly Clutching at Phantom Limbs. Self released they could only afford to produce 55 copies and despite the somewhat sketchy distribution of the album Andrew and Laura began to develop a following, playing out with newly recruited bass player Bryan Poole. Yet it wasn't long before Rieger and Carter developed a slight case of wanderlust and the two moved up to NYC. It was there they wrote the songs for their next release, The Winter Hawk EP, which was recorded while they made the rounds of open-mic nights at various clubs. After nine months they were back in Georgia on vacation and once again hooked up with Poole. This time they enlisted Aaron Wegelin to play drums enabling Laura, who had been behind the kit (which on occasion was really just a cardboard box) to move up front to play, among other instruments, keyboard. Elf Power was, you could say, born again. Back in Athens, this time as a four piece.

Not only was the band a fuller unit but Elf Power found themselves in the midst of a new exciting scene - a collective of sorts known as Elephant 6. Elephant 6 was started by friends Will Hart (Olivia Tremor Control), Bill Doss (Olivia Tremor Control), Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) and Robert Schneider (Apples In Stereo). Their bands and others including Elf Power often play on each others albums, tour together and (probably not always to their liking) are name-checked in each others reviews. In 1998 Rolling Stone asked Michael Stipe what he believed was hot in music and he cited Elephant 6. To this day Elf Power continue to place proudly the Elephant 6 logo on their albums.

The band started to achieve national recognition with the release of When The Red King Comes in late '97 which was further solidified with A Dream In Sound. This album produced by Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips), showcases the bands penchant for crafting gorgeous, folksy, melodic pop. 1999 also saw the band tour the world including a U.S. stint with Olivia Tremor Control and stadium shows with REM.

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