Elephant Memoirs Delivers an Emotional Gut Punch on New Single 'Done In'

Hailing from Gateshead, alt-rock trio Elephant Memoirs have been kicking up a storm in the underground for almost a decade. John Aspinall (guitarist and lead vocalist), Carl Aspinall (bassist) and Barry Drew (drummer) have been honing in this guitar centric, prog rock inspired soundscape with infectious melodies over their last few releases.

Their most recent single, ‘Done In’ sees them diving more into the intricacies of this sound; driving home the subtleties of their rock and grunge inspired guitar bass and drum instrumentation without diluting any of the lyrical and melodic edge. 

'Done In' kicks off with dissonant guitar chords and lyrics that describe being completely disconnected from a situation, “Of all the things that bother me, humankind and her sanity leaves me for more than I rate, yet no one else here can see”. The angular melody leds the despondency of the lyrics a significant amount of weight. 

After the chorus, "Now I'm done here cause I'm broken in bits / Another second of this nonsense equals raging fits", the rest of the instruments come in; a fuzz ladend guitar, buzzing bass and steady drum pattern. The second verse further abstractes the main idea of the first with the lyrics, “Of all the things that bother me, Your hating self and the fact that it's tucked away/ Lights my clean, dry, short fuse”. This section of the instrumental builds up into the second chorus followed by a comparably heavy bridge before fading out. After, that the final chorus comes back in but this time with a stronger march-like drum beat, leaving one to stew in the weight of the arresting chorus.

'Done In' is a fantastic track that throws a little bit of variation into the traditional punk structure to create a song both lyrically powerful and instrumentally engaging. After a notably successful 2021 that saw Elephant Memoirs see heavy rotation on rock stations in various countries around the world, this track is a perfect way to cap off a strong year of hard work in the face of adversity. This is a must listen for fans of bands like Green Day, Sum-41 and Microwaves.

Kenneth Butcher

@kazu_kb 

Image: 'Done In' Official Single Cover by John Aspinall