Except Elephant shares her own brand of eerie indie-rock on her latest release ‘Leave It All Behind’.
Except Elephant – Leave It All Behind
‘If I could take it, I would do it all the time’ is the lyric that catches the ear on Except Elephant’s latest track – just what exactly is she referring to? Love, pain, substances…perhaps they all meld into one in the unnerving dreamworld that she seems to live in. But as the title ‘Leave It All Behind’ suggests, there is both a longing and a desire to run.
Except Elephant is a solo artist describing herself as existing between indie rock and post-punk, pop and avant-garde. Having only released her debut single in the spring, perhaps there’s still an element of experimentation and discovery happening in her music, but it’s nevertheless compelling.
‘Leave It All Behind’ is an angsty yet energetic ode to longing and despair, mixing indie, rock and punk influences.
The lyrics are never too specific about the situation but convey a real sense of longing, desperation and turmoil – ‘Do you see me here? I’m talking to you, look me in the eyes’ opens the track. The husky, almost androgynous vocals wail in despair, yet still, retain some hope – ‘I’m waiting for a better day, I promise it won’t be the same’.
Most noticeable in the production are the distorted guitar lines, pinging like pennies in a drainpipe. Combined with the thrumming bass and hard-hitting drums, the atmosphere is charged yet tense. Ghostly synths also add a sense of eerieness to the whole track – you get a feeling you’re somewhere not entirely of this world, and then the track ends abruptly around the 2 ½ minute mark… But fans of the 1990s and early 2000s riot grrl bands will definitely find something to enjoy here, as well as anyone looking for some new flavours.
Discover more from Except Elephant
Discover more on RCM
- Free Music Marketing Training For Independent Artists
- Five reasons why music PR consistently fails unsigned musicians
- Music Marketing vs Music Promotion Avoid These Three Mistakes
- The pre-save, a money-making trick? Or a valuable music marketing tool?
Words Eden Tredwell
