Brooklyn singer/songwriter Elijah Wolf captures both sides of a goodbye in his intimate new song “Holding This In,” a driving and emotionally charged indie folk song of pain and perspective.
for fans of Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Gregory Alan Isakov
Stream: “Holding This In” – Elijah Wolf
“And it’s alright, ‘cause I’m still listening,” singer/songwriter Elijah Wolf sings sincerely in his new single, an aching in his voice. “And it’s real, but I’m still holding this in.” When it comes to endings, there will always be words left unsaid and emotions unexpressed. At a certain point, it doesn’t make sense anymore to say everything you want to say to someone; what’s the good in laying yourself out there, if it’s all over, anyway? So we bottle our feelings up, hold our tongue, and it slowly consumes us from the inside out. We appreciate our relationship for what it was in the moment, rather than what it is at the end, and we (try to) move on as gracefully as we can.
Elijah Wolf captures both sides of a goodbye in his intimate new single “Holding This In,” a driving, heartfelt, and emotionally charged indie folk song about pain and perspective. Without going into the full details, Wolf finds a way of “letting out” all the things he’s held inside. It may not be much, but it’s enough to feel a little bit better.
You kindly like to say you knew I’d be ok
But all the time it weighs me down I can’t escape
And it’s alright cuz I’m still listening
And it’s real but I’m still holding this in
You’d always find a way and I’d always hide away
The silence has erased me now and I can’t escape
And it’s alright cuz I’m still listening
And it’s real but I’m still holding this in
This kindness that you’re offering
Yeah it’s real but I’m still holding this in
And it’s alright
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Holding This In,” Elijah Wolf’s first single of 2022 (independently out August 23). Following last February’s highly lauded sophomore LP Brighter Lighting and October’s standalone single “Yesterday, With You” (featuring a number of notable musicians, including Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold and Lightning Bug’s Kevin Copeland), “Holding This In” sees Brooklyn-based Wolf collaborating with longtime producer Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Sharon Van Etten) and co-writer Josh Jaeger to capture the complex nature of relationships and breakups.
Singing over staccato synths and a driving beat, Wolf takes on both an inner and outer voice – expressing the back-and-forth between two (ex) partners, as well as an internal monologue with a bit more color and candor. “You kindly like to say you knew I’d be ok,” he sings at the top. “But all the time it weighs me down, I can’t escape.” In the second verse, he doubles down on the feeling of pressure and emotional distress: “You’d always find a way and I’d always hide away, the silence has erased me now and I can’t escape,” he admits, recognizing the painful truth of his situation.
The song’s chorus is particularly bittersweet, as the narrator acknowledges his unresolved emotions and all those words left unsaid. Wolf’s voice is particularly emotional and evocative; he packs a world of feelings into a catchy melody and nuanced performance that says all he really needs to get off his chest.
And it’s alright cuz I’m still listening
And it’s real but I’m still holding this in
This kindness that you’re offering
Yeah it’s real but I’m still holding this in
And it’s alright cuz I’m still listening
And it’s real but I’m still holding this in
This kindness that you’re offering
Yeah it’s real but I’m still holding this in
“‘Holding This In’ represents a conversation at the end of a relationship, both sides of a goodbye,” Wolf tells Atwood Magazine. “It’s about pain and perspective. I wrote it with Joshua Jaeger upstate at Sam Cohen’s studio in Accord, New York. The studio is isolated, surrounded by old farmland and situated between two mountain ranges that are particularly gorgeous. I woke up there one morning in late spring feeling really inspired, and the song just started pouring out. Josh was nearby and agreed to join me.”
Wolf continues, “Songwriting has always been a personal and solo pursuit for me, and ‘Holding This In’ marks my first time working with a co-writer. Collaboration turned out to be essential to the song! While recording with Sam, we experimented with all kinds of new sounds; a cowbell got layered with enough effects to sound something like water dripping in a cave. You’ll hear Sam play bass in this smooth way that sounds like a vocal harmony. It’s so lyrical to me! We pushed ourselves, and I’m so proud of how it turned out. It feels like we discovered something new, and I’m really excited to share it.”
Wolf has outdone himself on this latest release. An instantly memorable song with an easy hook, an energetic guitar line, and powerful vocals “Holding This In” is a radiant return: A song full of vulnerability, heart, and raw, beautifully unresolved emotions. Stream Elijah Wolf’s new music exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned more from this captivating singer/songwriter:
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Stream: “Holding This In” – Elijah Wolf
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