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Published in electro-pop ·

Elephanz

Maryland

The Nantes brothers Jonathan and Maxime Verleysen built Maryland from a beat, a bass line, a riff and chords; the song from their self-titled 2017 album became a gold-certified single and returned in 2018 as a duet with Eugénie.

By korczis 2 min read
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Review

Genre and Mood

Elephanz make electro-pop with an indie-pop heart, and Maryland became one of the hits that carried their second album. We hear it as upbeat on the surface, with longing and something bittersweet underneath; Wikipedia notes that the album’s singles often deal with love and with feeling lost. No critical review we could verify describes the song closely, so this page leans on what the band and the credits say.

Song Summary

Maryland was written and composed by the brothers Jonathan and Maxime Verleysen and produced by Elephanz with Pierrick Devin and Lionnel Buzac. In a 2026 video, Max and Jon rebuild its arrangement live, layer by layer, naming four building blocks: beat, bass, riff and chords. This page follows the album version, 3:19 on the band’s own upload, released on Elephanz in October 2017.

Musical Breakdown

Instead of guessing at verses and choruses, this breakdown follows the four layers the band themselves name.

Intro

The beat comes first in the band’s own reconstruction; everything else is stacked on it.

Main Section

The bass and the riff are the next two layers the band name.

Chorus

The chords complete the arrangement; the sources do not describe how the chorus itself is built.

Outro

No source describes the ending; listen for which of the four layers stays to the last.

Concepts in Focus

A riff and a bassline are both repeated figures, but they do different jobs. The bassline anchors the harmony and the groove from below; the riff is a melodic hook that the ear follows. In their reconstruction of Maryland, Elephanz list the bass before the riff, a reminder that a pop song is often built from the bottom up.

In April 2018 the band released an alternate version: Maryland featuring the singer Eugénie, who shares the writing credit on the lyrics of that version, with a video directed by Romain Daudet-Jahan. A duet can change a song’s point of view while keeping its music.

Artistic Context

Elephanz formed in Nantes in January 2008, Jonathan on vocals and guitar, Maxime on vocals and keyboards. Their debut Time for a Change appeared in 2013 and earned a 2014 Victoires de la Musique nomination for electronic album of the year. The self-titled second album, released on 13 October 2017, is more electronic than the first, with slicker production; Maryland was released from it as a single in 2018.

Impact and Reception

Maryland was certified a gold single in France, and by November 2020 it had passed 14 million plays on Spotify. It is here for how simply it is built. Listen for the four layers, one at a time.

Learn from this track

Introductory

What you will learn

  • Describe how a pop song can be built in layers, beat, bass, riff and chords, the way Elephanz rebuild Maryland live in a video.
  • Explain the difference between a riff and a bassline and how each holds a song together.
  • Compare an album version with a later duet version of the same song and say why an artist makes one.

Listening guide

  1. the beat The first of the four layers Elephanz name when they rebuild the song's arrangement live: everything else is stacked on it.
  2. the bass The second layer in the band's list, the bass line under the song.
  3. the riff The repeated figure the brothers single out as one of the song's building blocks.
  4. the chords The harmonic layer, the last of the four the band name, which completes the arrangement.

Concepts in this track

bassline

67 tracks

The lowest melodic part of a track. In dance music it often carries the hook as much as the vocal does, and its rhythm against the kick drum defines the groove.

riff

25 tracks

A short, repeated melodic or rhythmic figure, usually played by an instrument, that anchors a song. Rock riffs are often guitar figures; in electronic music the same role falls to a synth or bass line.

alternate version

58 tracks

A second finished recording of the same song by the same artist, with a different arrangement, tempo or sound rather than a reworking by another producer. Comparing two versions shows how much of a song's mood comes from production rather than from melody and words.

Listen next, and why

Questions for discussion

  1. If a song can be taken apart into four layers, which one would you miss first if it disappeared?
  2. Why might a band re-release a hit a few months later as a duet with another singer?
  3. Maryland is a place name. What does a song gain from a title that points somewhere the listener may never have been?

References

  1. Wikipedia. Elephanz. Encyclopedia
  2. ELEPHANZ. ELEPHANZ - Anatomy of a Song : Maryland (2026). Video
  3. ELEPHANZ. ELEPHANZ Ft. Eugénie - Maryland (Clip Officiel) (2018). Video
  4. Info-Lux. Album > Ce que dit la rumeur > Elephanz. Article
  5. Pure Charts. Clip "Doigts croisés" : Elephanz retombe en enfance avec nostalgie (2020). Article
  6. MusicBrainz. Maryland (recording). Database

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