Patrick Foster wrote about Dax Riggs in February 2006 for The Washington Post:

He's not quite in Joseph Merrick's league, but Dax Riggs, leader of Louisiana duo Deadboy & the Elephantmen, has always been something of an outcast. Through his days with sludge-metal band Acid Bath, more conventional hard rockers Agents of Oblivion and a full-band version of his current outfit, Riggs has consistently labored on the fringes. But his appearance (with drummer/singer Tessie Brunet) at Iota Thursday night seemed to mark a new phase: Deadboy's new album, "We Are Night Sky" is the highest-profile release of Riggs's career, the duo will open a string of dates for the Fiery Furnaces later this month and Riggs's singing has never sounded better. All of which made their uneven set a little puzzling.

Deadboy's new disc -- skip the lazy White Stripes comparisons, please -- is radically pared down, but the songs sounded more like incantations than anything else Thursday, electric or acoustic guitar riffs underpinning short phrases that burrowed into Brunet's raw, thudding beats. The pair handled that high-drama stuff -- "Misadventures of Dope," "Stop, I'm Already Dead" -- too casually, lurching at times, losing the edge at others. The sparks came when Brunet went easy on the drums and matched her delicate high harmonies to Riggs's throaty leads, turning "No Rainbow," "How Long the Night Was" and "Evil Friend" into spooky tone poems: half blues and half strung-out T. Rex lamentations. It's that combination that might finally bring Deadboy & the Elephantmen out of the shadows.