Biography

elkyn’s debut album, ‘holy spirit social club’, sees 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, unfiltered & 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.  After a lockdown spent demoing, he entered Nave Studio with producer Mark Gustafson, creating more complete songs than ever before. The process was so cathartic that he went on to name the album after the social club that once existed in the basement below the studio.    Whilst elkyn isn’t exactly kind to himself on the album, 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. The album is proof of that and a whole lot more.