Recorded at VADA STUDIOS, co produced by Martha (lead singer) and George Perks (Maximo Park, You Me At Six, Mogwai, Enter Shakari) and mastered by Andy 'Hippy' Baldwin at Metropolis.

Sorry

Meaning of Life

Whilst The Elephant Trees are a band passionate about inclusion, social consciousness continues as a motif throughout their music, with their latest track a commentary on the lacklustre reality of being born in the information age. 

Musically, The Elephant Trees describe themselves as sounding like Florence Ad The Machine, if the machine were Enter Shikari. Compounding elements of electronica with the raw vibrations of rock, Ones And Zeros is textually outrageous, balancing heavy synth with euphoric guitar phrases. 

Inspired by and written as a homage to Martha’s late grandfather, Ones And Zeros challenges our collective intellect and mentality in an existence where the world resides in the palm of your hand or your back pocket. 

“He was an absolute legend, the kind of guy who knew everything about everything, had been atop all the mountains and had a crazy tale for each of them. He’d sit in his armchair in the front room surrounded by books and maps, overflowing with information on the stars, the planet, architecture, and agriculture, and was the most generous you could ever hope to meet. 

He developed a very aggressive cancer and we lost him over the pandemic. It was a pain I’d never experienced, but the last few weeks we had with him were spent in that front room surrounded by all of his knowledge. It struck me that my grandad was one of the only people I knew that learned everything first-hand. He’d been up the mountains, he’d grown his own food, he’d explored the world in the most analogue fashion. He won’t mind me telling you that he was truly terrible with technology - but he didn’t need it.

Meanwhile, here I am (and my fellow Gen-Zs), knowing everything about nothing. I have the world at my fingertips, access to the biggest collection of data this world has ever seen in a glass box that fits in my hand. We can know anything we want in an instant, and yet, is any of it real? This song is a reminder that for any of us who have grown up in the tech age, our whole understanding of the world has come to us in the form of ones and zeros. It’s hard to imagine now whether we could survive in the wild without the help of technology… We have a lot to be grateful for in the ones and zeros, but we also need to remember to experience life in 4D.”

Ones And Zeros comes out on 18th February via Incantation Records across all streaming platforms.

Ones And Zer0s

Bricks & Mortar is the only song off the debut EP 'Monachopsis' not to be released as a single, before moving on to our next EP 'Terra Incognita' we return to one of our favourite songs to play live. B&M is about capitalism, trying to escape the 9-5 rat race and the injustice that our privileged lives are not our own.

BRICKS AND MORTAR (B&M)

Lyrics:

I’m living with expectations, Everyone here is getting relations
But I’m still here all alone, just trying to find my way back home.
There’s just one thing messing up my head, I can’t forget these sticks of bread.
I just can’t help it, I just can’t help it.
As a wise man once said, the corner of my bed
Is like arms without a being, hold me closer in the evening.
Don’t know what to say, don’t know what’s right, am I even fighting the right fight?
Is it day or is it night? Breaking through the day light.

Am I a monster or am I a child?
Am I a monster or am I just a child?
Save yourselves coz I’ve lost my mind.
Am I a monster? Am I a monster?

So possibly some day I could uproot and runaway,
But this darkness holds me down, so turn that frown upside now.
Well thanks Jack, your cliches keep me calm.
They say it’s all okay, everything will go away,
One day when you are older, growing older, growing colder.
But I want it better now, three years and I still count,
Well look at that, there’s no turning back.

So tell me what you think have I gone over the end? 
Just looking for someone I can call my friend,
Who I can tell anything, that I can trust,
Won’t leave me in the corner, won’t leave me there to rust.
And I know it’s pathetic, and I know it’s immature,
But I want it like we had it before,
When nobody thought and nobody cared 
About the way they dressed or their makeup or their hair.
I know it’s pathetic coz I’m only fourteen 
but take a look at the things I’ve seen.
Can’t say it out loud so I put it in a song,
The only thing that’s right in a path of wrongs.
I exaggerate and I make things up,
Act all hard, act all tough.
Try figure me out, I’ll make it hard to tell.
Just need a coin and a wishing well. 

Am I a monster or am I a child?
Am I a monster or am I just a child?
Save yourselves coz I’ve lost my mind.
Am I a monster? Am I a monster?

Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!
Oh no! Oh no!

Am I a monster or am I a child?
Am I a monster or am I a child?
Am I a monster or am I just a child?

Monster

OPEN UP

She said "hey can you come over?
I'll give you something to talk about"
She said "I don't really know her, and I won't open up for nowt."
She said "it's something bout your eyes, you kinda sing good too."
"Well baby that's alright, but I'm not ready for you"

It's kinda scary, what you're doing to me

And now a few months later, how's about that date?
Is this a good idea? I over complicate
She said "it's something bout your smile. I like the way you sing"
Well baby that's alright but don't give me everything

It's kind of scary what you're doing to me.
You're making me feel things I buried underneath.
It's kind of scary what you're doing to me.

But I think I like it

I think I'm ready, I might be ready now

Open Up-Single

Open Up

IDKWIWA

New Single from The Elephant Trees self - released on Bandcamp 16th April / DSPs 29th May

After a studio session at Urchin Studios in Dec 2019 with producer Dan Cox, the band forge ahead with this aptly named single, a single for a country...a world in crisis. The Elephant Trees explore how we got there... Strangely though this track is over 6 months old, it seems to get more relevant by the day!

Follow us and our journey: https://linktr.ee/theelephanttrees

DOWNLOAD FREE MUSIC (Original 'Immutable You' Demo: https://theelephanttrees.bandcamp.com...

SEE US LIVE, ACROSS THE UK 2020 on a LIVE STREAM!
Get tickets to our next show: https://youtu.be/bvb-LEQzcZM
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Survival

SURVIVAL - RADIO EDIT

HEROINE - ‘big brooding alt pop/rock for your ex lover to cry to’

“This isn’t a love song, it’s not about falling in love, it’s about lust, it’s about the painful moments when the distance between you feels so far. It’s screaming into the night hoping someone will hear you, it’s the battles as a young girl fighting against your sexuality, it’s full of fear and need” - Martha Phillips songwriting and vocalist. 
One of the first songs written by the band back in 2014, this song is a fan favourite at their live shows. For three years Martha would end every gig with ‘Heroine’ belting out the final note, using every last ounce of energy and passion to close the show on a spine tingling moment. 
This highly anticipated single holds an incredibly special place in the hearts of their fans, the band, their families and wider team. This release is for the day ones. 
“A song of this magnitude needed the right recording settings and it wasn’t until we met Dan Cox (Producer at Urchin Studios) that we knew we had met the right person to capture the raw energy of the live performance”  - Tom Palmer Drummer

Heroine

‘WHAT DID YOU DO?’ ASK THE ELEPHANT TREES IN THEIR NEW POIGNANT ANTHEM THAT CALLS FOR CHANGE

Release Date: 25 / SEPT 2020 via Incantation Records
'What Did You Do' is a rhetorical, a comment on 2020, the year that changed the world.    A soundtrack for the UK in ‘post lockdown’.
Written by lead singer Martha Phillips during lockdown the band self recorded the song in their homes, and is the first fully self produced track by Martha, who has spent the last 6 months working on her production skills. The lyrics read like a biblical warning; ”there’s a change coming, a mighty flood or something” Martha says, “ In 50 years time where are we going to be, what world will our children live in? When they ask, what did you do, what will you say? We’ve all learnt about the depths of the climate crisis, black lives matter movement, and our unequal society, but what do we actually do about it other than post on social media and use a few woke hashtags. I include myself in this question more than anyone! When I wrote this song I was struggling with the constant wave of ‘bad news’ from 2020, and looked inward. I imagined my future family, looking at me and asking “but mum what did you actually do?”, the answer right now is very little, but by raising the question for myself I hope to inspire others too."

What Did You Do

"Musical Tapas - if the machine behind Florence was Biffy Clyro!"

The Elephant Trees have become a symbol [=] quite literally of remembering your roots whilst exploring exactly who you are and embracing every aspect of that INDIVIDUALITY.

The Elephant Trees

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