Posted by Elderbrook is going from strength to strength.
An artist who is pursuing his own agenda, his ruthlessly intelligent pop format allows for plenty of sonic and lyrical evolution.
Recent single ‘Something About You’ paired Elderbrook with Rudimental, and it became a phenomenon, truly striking a chord with fans.
Out now, new single ‘Numb’ is a triumph, a soulful return that patches together Elderbrook’s differing influences while offering something distinct.
Clash met up with him to break the single down…
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Tame Impala – ‘Lost In Yesterday’
The driving drums in this song definitely influenced the drop on ‘Numb’. It’s hard to explain but It just has kind of a “running” feeling to it. I think the drums are the driving force behind both my song Numb and this one. The drums keep the song feeling fast paced and energetic.
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Mark Ronson ft. Yebba – Don’t Leave Me Lonely’
My favourite think about this song is the way the vocal melody kind of comes full circle. I can really visualise it going on a little journey round and round. I didn’t so much recreate this in my vocals on ‘Numb’ but I think I came somewhere close with the synth line.
Starting and finishing on the same note and phrase with a short journey in between.
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Peggy Gou – ‘Starry Night’
This is a song I was listening to a lot around the same time I made ‘Numb’. Not sure if any of the sounds crossed over in an obvious way but, although quite an uplifting song, the darkness of the bass is something that always stuck out for me and the bass on Numb is definitely a dark one too.
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Michael Kiwanuka – ‘Solid Ground’
The song uses emptiness between the sounds really cleverly which is something I was thinking about a lot when making ‘Numb’. I wanted notes to stretch and stand alone so that the track is really able to breathe.
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Billie Eillish – ‘Everything I Wanted’
What really influenced me about this song was the lyrics. The songs is very much about togetherness and companionship.
That really struck a chord with me and I think that’s maybe one of the reasons why the lyrics of ‘Numb’ ended up to be about loneliness and belonging, something that everyone has a different relationship with and can identify with in some way.
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‘Numb’ is out now.
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