The Elephant March Walk Us Through the Home-Recorded Surrealism of 'Greetings from Hypnagogia'
Inside the dreamlike world of The Elephant March, as they break down their gear, visions, dream collabs, and more.
Northern Indiana's The Elephant March builds music the way others build entire worlds; slowly revealing shadows, shapes, colors, and textures that hover somewhere between waking and dreaming. Their debut album, Greetings from Hypnagogia, is a transmission from the in-between, a place where subconscious whispers turn into Mellotron choirs, glitch-cut guitars, and warm analog haze.
Formed around the creative core of Matt Redden and J. Wood, the band blends alternative rock with surreal performance art - black umbrellas, masked figures, and a bassist who performs as a literal ghost. But behind the theatrics lies an engine of relentless curiosity, deep craftsmanship, and a home-recording process shaped by experimentation, texture, and the refusal to settle for anything ordinary.
In this conversation, The Elephant March walk us through the gear that defined their debut, the unconventional recording process, the challenges of creating as adults with families, the power and problems of modern music platforms, dream collaborations, and even what happens when their tour van slips into another musical era.
Chris Roditis, Musicngear: Hello guys, welcome to Musicngear! Your album Greetings from Hypnagogia was recorded entirely from home - what did your recording setup look like? Could you walk us through the key pieces of gear that shaped the album’s atmosphere?
Justin: Initially, we had no plans to record an album, so we were just demoing straight through an Line6 HX Stomp, but as time crept by, we started to realize that these were growing beyond demos. We began experimenting with pedals and vintage amps (brand:0, brand:1, Sunn Beta Lead) and synths with more of a focus on texture, tone and feel rather than just getting ideas down.
I think I upgraded to a Universal Audio Apollo Twin after about 2 songs and we were also introduced to the world of the Neural DSP Quad Cortex toward the end of the record.
Musicngear: Were there any unconventional techniques, recording hacks, or happy accidents that became part of the final mix?
Justin: The entire process is unconventional, I’d say. I mean, there are certain things you know that just work due to years of recording experience-and we do those things to lay a solid base. Everything beyond that is like putting together a 5,000-piece puzzle in the dark.
I (we) like to just add layer after layer and experiment with texture until it sounds like garbage-then start dialing it back. We had a lot of time constraints, so we’d just try to lay down as much as possible while we were together in the same room.
One little Easter egg is at the end of ‘Sleepy Talky’, where a mic stand failed and gave Matt a scare. We left that in. It fits.
Musicngear: You’ve mentioned your reverence for vintage synths and analog textures. Which specific instruments or effects gave this record its character? Are there any pieces of gear that have become “non-negotiable” in your creative process?
Justin: Every song on the album has a Mellotron choir-most have an Omnichord or Yamaha VSS 30 and all of the bass fuzz you hear is a Nightfall Sound Co. Black Goo fuzz that I built.
Also…don’t tell anyone, but our “secret weapon’ is actually a digital distortion pedal called the Digitech Hot Rod. That thing rips.
I guess some of the weirdo spacey FX were pulled from a Yamaha MagicStomp or a Digitech Space Station XP300. I really love the Behringer T1953 on acoustic.
Some of the glitchy guitar on ‘Morning Coffin’ and ‘Mustard’ was from a triple-slicer pedal I built called the 11:33.
Musicngear: Since both of you share the songwriting and production duties, how do you approach collaboration?
Matt: I think that the two of us feed off of one another’s depth and curiosity to push the limits of how we experience life and how that translates to music. We are the perfect Yin and Yang.
Musicngear: Building and recording an album from home can be both liberating and frustrating. What were the biggest technical or creative challenges you had to overcome during the making of Greetings from Hypnagogia, and what advice would you give to artists trying to craft a record outside of a traditional studio?
Matt: This is a better Justin question, but the largest challenge for me personally was getting enough time to get together to keep up with the amount of original music that was spilling out of us. There aren’t enough hours in the day and with life, work, kids, responsibilities. You have to get creative about making it work for the sake of the momentum and what was coming from us in a hurry.
Justin: My advice is to track at home and then have someone else mix and master it. Focus on the music as much as possible.
Musicngear: Your visual world - black umbrellas, masks, a “bass ghost” - is so distinctive. How much do your gear choices influence the visuals, or vice versa?
Matt: I think that we stumbled into a great blend for guitar tones by trial and error, where once again, the beautiful collision of styles comes together to create something completely brand new and unique.
Vocals kind of mimic that. The beauty and chaos are tethered together throughout. Steve is and has always been a gifted drummer who reads our minds for what we are after and that is only complemented by the experience and skillset of our bass player, Arnie.
Musicngear: Beyond the album itself, what are your goals for this release? Are you focusing on streaming growth, live shows, connecting with blogs, or building something entirely different around this world you’ve created?
Matt: I think we all want to create something unique and brand new that feels like home at the same time. I think our goal is to be honest about who we are and what we write about and share that to our fanbase in an honest way on record and on stage.
We want to and continuously and tirelessly pursue growth. We want to find people who not only love our music but also get why it’s there.
We are always connecting and networking with our fans and getting to know them personally because they are a major part of our band.
Musicngear: If you could collaborate with any artist, who would you choose, and are there particular venues or festivals where you dream of performing?
Matt: I’ll play any great show, but personally, nothing would feel like we made it more than opening for Radiohead.
Justin: Billie Eilish collab 2026, let’s go. I’d like to play a festival in Madrid someday.
Musicngear: What’s your take on the role of music blogs today, and how do you see it evolving, especially with platforms like SubmitHub, Groover, Musosoup, and Wallstream that connect artists with curators and writers?
Justin: Music blogs still play an important role as storytellers and scene-builders, but I think the ecosystem has gotten messy with all the pay-to-submit platforms. Tools like SubmitHub, Groover, Musosoup, and Wallstream make it easier for artists to reach curators, but they also blur the line between genuine editorial discovery and paid attention.
I’d personally love to see things move back toward organic, passion-driven curation. Music hits harder when it’s chosen because someone truly connected with it, not because an artist paid for a chance to be heard.
So I’m hopeful blogs will evolve toward more authenticity, deeper writing, and more community-driven discovery.
Musicngear: Now let’s get weird: your tour van accidentally drives through a time portal and drops you into a completely different musical era. Where are you, what year are you in, and what do you see (or hear)?
Matt: I’m personally in the roaring twenties. Probably at a sultry nightclub with a house blues band. Maybe a stand-up comedian as well. Enjoy some laughs and some dancing and possibly join in for a song or two on stage!
Justin: 1920s blues/jazz? I’m down with that.
Musicngear: Looking ahead, what’s next for The Elephant March?
Matt: Portage, Indiana, Midwest, United States, The World 🌎
Connect with The Elephant March
Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / Spotify / Website
About Chris Roditis
Chris Roditis has been an active musician since 1995 in various bands and projects across a variety of genres ranging from acoustic, electronic to nu metal, british rock and trip hop. He has extensive experience as a mixing engineer and producer and has built recording studios for most of the projects he has been involved with. His passion for music steered his entrepreneurial skills into founding MusicNGear in 2012.
Contact Chris Roditis at chrisroditis@musicngear.com
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