Singled Out: ELLDER's Don't Carry Things That Weigh You Down

ELLDER, the collaborative project of singer-songwriters Carmen Elle and Ben Kunder, recently released their new single "Don't Carry Things That Weigh You Down", and to celebrate we asked Ben To tell us about the track. Here is the story: The song 'Don't Carry Things That Weigh You Down' is a lesson in the art of patience in songwriting.

ELLDER is made up of two unique and storied songwriters, Carmen Elle and me (Ben Kunder). I (Ben) had been going through one of the most heavy and difficult times of my life surrounding a loved one's health, and caring for them after I almost lost them and then the slow recovery following. I would sit at my piano when I had a moment to breathe and play this drone over and over. It was a therapeutic meditation that allowed me to release and cry and reflect. I wrote the first lines of the song and would sing them back to myself for months without moving beyond, "when you go through changes, who am I, who am I".

Then I had a songwriting session with Carmen planned. It was our first and there were no expectations other than a great hang. We met in my unheated garage rehearsal space in the dead of Winter and I offered them this piece of a song that I'd been playing for months. It was immediate that Carmen connected to the melody and lyrics and within minutes they had written their verse and we had finished a chorus. They understood the trauma and the healing and were able to bring their own story in and open the song right up. We were listing our coping mechanisms and laughing and freezing in that cold space to the sound of the out of tune piano. The song was completed in what felt like seconds.

I left that session with a huge weight lifted off me. We knew we had written something special and that it would have a life beyond that frigid garage and our personal stories. We decided that we should write more and make it official. That's what sparked our project ELLDER and we've been writing songs together ever since.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

News > ELLDER