Buffy

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

The Rills Skint Eastwood

“Liebling Girl” is the tenth and final single to be released from our sophomore LP Hold Me Close Hold Me Tight. In that sense it’s a celebratory release for us. It sounds like it too! 

The track celebrates the joy of love and the strength and power of the divine feminine and the protective maternal energy that comes with it. It also showcases a more vulnerable and tender side of Geoff's songwriting.

Here's some insight into the track straight from Geoff...

“‘​​Liebling Girl’ tells the story of how I met my wife. I was moving into a share house with some mates and, at the last minute, one of those mates pulled out. We were left without a third housemate so we needed to quickly find someone else to take his spot. We put an ad in the local paper and had a number of replies. However, it was a young German girl on a working holiday who took the room and moved in. Little did I know that destiny’s plan was in motion and after a few months our relationship became more than just roommates. ‘Liebling Girl’ takes you through the journey from my perspective, from this person becoming my roommate to becoming my wife.”
- Geoff 🥃 

“Liebling” is of German origin and translates to “darling” in English ;)

- JK

Hold Me Close Hold Me Tight

Liebling Girl

atmos bloom - Almost Natural

This track is from the album Ordinary Man and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pinderbrothers2

Dear Diane

Bandits

Bandits (feat. Oscar Lang)

Let It Go, Let Me Go

'Big Fugitive Life' will be released 19th August 2016 via Bella Union.

PRE-ORDER NOW!

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/big-fugitive-life-ep/id1113686494

Big Fugitive Life

Ezra Furman - Teddy I'm Ready

Best Wishes

Can't Blame a Kid

MAITA - Can't Blame A Kid

All songs written and recorded by Phantom Handshakes
Mastered by Carl Saff
'I Worried' lyrics taken from the poem by Mary Oliver

MAITA - Can't Blame A Kid

Kill Rock Stars

Recent comments

E. F. Huber

Chuck Wooke

Related tracks