holy spirit social club

by elkyn

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1.	change 03:06	buy track
2.	found the back of the tv remote 03:44	buy track
3.	fell 03:19	buy track
4.	i was never in it 04:11	buy track
5.	talon 03:28	buy track
6.	everything looks darker now 03:26	buy track
7.	change (reprise) 01:33	buy track
8.	if you're still leaving 03:27	buy track
9.	last night 04:11	buy track
10.	i don't know the way from here 03:43	buy track
11.	this is the end 03:23	buy track
12.	it figures 03:52	buy track

about

elkyn has released his debut album, ‘holy spirit social club’, which 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 is meditative, enveloping the listener in a safe haven where you feel free to acknowledge the darker parts of yourself.

Rainy regret-tinged evenings dominate ‘holy spirit social club’. ‘everything looks darker now’, reflects ruefully on how Donnelly shied away from an old friend who unexpectedly came to a rainy gig in Manchester. 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.

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released March 18, 2022

IF YOU ARE ORDERING FROM THE USA / CANADA THEN WE RECOMMEND ORDERING FROM WWW.CURATIONRECORDS.COM

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about

elkyn Leeds, UK

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. ... more

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