roadkill 5.8.21 demo

I Love My Mom

What Are We Gonna Do Now

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I’m Not A Mountain

If I could choose 
the things that I knew 
And all the things that I’d seen
I’d let the room fill with memories until 
The walls were staring at me 

The mystery of life 
Has just taken flight
I watch the walls closing in
So I swallow my pride and 
Take another bite 
I guess I’m dreaming again

I swear I’m not attached to living the past 
But I can’t get off my feet
You say we all go mad but I don’t believe that 
so you’ll prove it to me

If I could choose
Then I’d never lose 
I’d always take without giving 
I wrote down the truth 
In letters to you 
But I know you’ll never get them

If I were a mountain 
I’d stand my ground and
Maybe I’d never listen 
But if I were a mountain
I’d close my mouth and
Maybe I’d be forgiving

But I’m not 
I’m not 
No I’m not 
I’m not 

I’m not a mountain I can’t hold you on my own 
The mirror calls me so far and yet so close
There in the square 
My arms in the air 
Is it so bad to be alone? 
I can do it on my own 

(Instrumental interlude)

Is it really so bad? 
Is it really so bad?
I can do it on my own

I'm Not A Mountain

elkyn has announced his debut album ‘holy spirit social club’ and shared its lead single ‘everything looks darker now’. 

Set for release via Curation Records on 18th March 2022, ‘holy spirit social club’ sees elkyn aka Joey Donnelly put his uncensored inner dialogue on paper, bravely airing the thoughts most wouldn’t dare expose. Whether that’s hurtful messages to one’s self, vague and elusive memories or lingering lessons from childhood, it’s all here on ‘holy spirit social club’, unfiltered and searingly honest. 

This sincerity is matched in the music. While the arrangements on ‘holy spirit social club’ are far more expansive than those heard on 2020 EP ‘beech’, tender finger picks and elkyn’s distinctive half-whisper still remain at its heart. Though the pain is palpable, its impact - as you’ll hear on new single ‘everything looks darker now’ - is meditative, enveloping the listener in a safe haven where you feel free to acknowledge the darker parts of yourself. 

Speaking about the single, Donnelly said: “This is about a rainy gig I played in Manchester. I invited someone and didn’t expect them to show up and when they did I shied away from them for most of it. We had a big catch up over a cigarette outside but when I left I realised how much I missed them”.

Rainy regret-tinged evenings, like this one, dominate ‘holy spirit social club’. ‘last night’ concerns the final night he spent with a friend, considering the ensuing loneliness that awaits. While ‘change’ finds him on the streets of Yorkshire, revisiting his family home and wondering whether he had fulfilled his father’s desire for him to ‘become a man’ - a sore point that resurfaces again and again on ‘holy spirit social club’. 

This unflinching honesty has seen elkyn become a streaming success in recent months, with the one-off singles that followed ‘beech’ making it on to a number of Spotify editorial playlists. After a lockdown spent demoing, he entered Nave Studios with Producer Mark Gustafson, creating more complete songs than ever before. The process was so cathartic for Donnelly that he went on to name the album after the social club that once existed in the basement below the aforementioned studio. 

Whilst elkyn isn’t exactly kind to himself on ‘holy spirit social club’, it does see him lift a monumental weight from his shoulders. In elkyn’s words, it’s “an interim into writing nicer songs and being nicer to myself”. In creating ‘holy spirit social club’, he has faced demons that he’s shied away from for too long, finding a way back to himself that previously felt impossible. It’s only by sitting with your darkest moments that you can begin to glimpse the light - ‘holy spirit social club’ is proof of that and a whole lot more.

everything looks darker now

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evangeline

Anti aging

Born in an old brewery, formed in a Leeds basement, and refined since 2019, elkyn is an acute reflection of Joseph Donnelly's beautiful heart. Carefully crafted lyrics erupting with honesty and intricately finger-picked guitars make this Yorkshire-based songwriter's unique brand of music equal measures of affecting, compelling, and deeply addicting.

everything looks darker now

elkyn

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