Premiere: Listen: Elephant Announce New ‘Shapeshifter’ Single

That’s Elephant, up there. Amelia Rivas and Christian Pinchbeck, waiting for their washing to finish. When they’re not concerned with such tedious tasks, they’re making impressive songs such as new single ‘Shapeshifter’, which follows on from the really-very-lovely ‘Skyscraper’ 7’ from earlier this year.

‘Shapeshifter’ is - true to its title - a different take, difficult to peg or pigeonhole on first listen. Sweet, woozy flurries of 50s-era ‘wooohs’ line the surface, with a sweet, string-backed chorus standing out as the best thing Rivas and Pinchbeck have put together in their (admittedly short) career to date.

The pair kindly answered some of DIY’s pressing questions about the new single as well as offering a premiere of the track. The single’s released alongside ‘Snow Day’ on 4th November via Memphis Industries. Stream Elephant, ‘Shapeshifter’, below:



Hello Elephant. Was this track written at the same time as ‘Skyscraper?’ How did it all come together?
‘Shapeshifter’ was written the week after ‘Skyscraper’ and it was a run off of this new way of writing that we discovered kind of by accident, when we had some time separately in the studio.

‘Shapeshifter’ sounds distinctly cinematic. Is there anything specific that the sound stems from?
I’d been listening to a lot of 1940-50’s film soundtracks, and the imagery they suggest when you have no idea what the actual movie is can be really cathartic. Trying to capture that in a pop song was the idea behind ‘Shapeshifter’. It’s interesting for us how the dynamics of film soundtracks, even when placed into the tight confines of a 3 ½ minute pop song, can provoke a cinematic experience.

How’s work going with the debut full-length? Is it all finished?
And we’re nearly finished with album. So very, very close to wrapping it up I can almost taste it.