Elefant frontman rides a wave of attention
His smoldering presence heats up N.Y.
Diego Garcia has just had a voice lesson, and he is high as a kite.
"I'm obsessed with the voice!" he says, on a cellphone in New York. "Singing right is the best thing in the world. When I signed my deal that's the first thing I asked for. Unlimited voice lessons! I want to be the best singer out there."
Garcia's boundless enthusiasm isn't unfounded. His band Elefant released one of last year's most exhilarating rock albums, "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid," a collection of 10 slanted dance tracks that set Garcia's darkly romantic vocals in a bouffant mass of swirling synths, throbbing beats, and fevered guitars. The band shamelessly flaunts its influences -- glam-rock and new wave, Joy Division and the Cure -- but happily hacks them to bits and rebuilds the beast with shimmering style.
"I love David Bowie. I love Morrissey. I love Iggy Pop for being pure. I love certain poets, the color light blue. I love Brazilian girls!" gushes Garcia.
The Detroit-born son of Argentinian parents, Garcia spent much of his childhood in Argentina, and although you can't hear it in the sound of Elefant's music, Garcia says that his South American roots shaped him as an artist.
"It comes out in the way I carry myself, the way I keep my mike near my body, the passion when I perform," he explains. "We're very warm-blooded people."
Indeed. Garcia's smoldering looks and effusive personality have turned him into the hottie du jour on the New York rock scene. He's featured in a photo spread in the current Vogue, and New York magazine recently named him the sexiest man in the world. Garcia confesses that he became "distracted" by all the attention and is stepping back to focus on the music. Elefant's next album, Garcia says, will reflect his Latin heritage more directly.
"I traveled to Argentina and Colombia over Christmas and bought a beautiful classical guitar," he explains. "I've written some new songs that I never would have come up with if I hadn't bought that guitar. Tango is one of my favorite things, and our next record, which we'll record later this year, will incorporate the traditional sounds."
Garcia graduated from Brown University in 2000 with a degree in economics. "I was a good boy, the perfect boy," he says. But Garcia knew that he would forsake a career in finance for one in rock. Soon after he left Providence for New York, Garcia briefly joined the band Circus. Meanwhile he scoured the city's clubs for "the best musicians in New York," eventually joining forces with guitarist Mod, bassist Jeff Berrall, and drummer Kevin McAdams to form Elefant. They signed with the indie label Kemado -- founded by Garcia's college buddy Andres Santodomingo -- and released "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid" in April of 2003.
Elefant's second record won't entirely forsake the gleaming mash of modern rock styles that made the debut so irresistable. But Garcia does believe that "music should be an evolution, an honest extension of where you are as a person. The first record was `I love you' and `You love me.' I'm into darker subjects now. If I'm honest with myself I'll be fine."
Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com
