Some artists have a special aura around them – a heightened sense of creativity paired with superior sensibility, allowing them to blend the cultural and musical landscape seamlessly, birthing meaningful and boundary-breaking pieces. ELDR belongs to that exact category.
A refined composer, producer and songwriter – but also a holistic creative sympathetic to social and environmental issues – the London-based songstress is often seen at the intersection of leftfield electronic goodness, alt-pop fierceness and cinematic matter, making for a listening experience that’s cathartic, luscious and immensely striking.
‘Deer Skin’ is the perfect example of that: ELDR’s latest effort, the track builds its ethereal livery on trip-hop grooves, obscure textures and evocative vocals. As you can imagine, it all results in a masterpiece, not just on a sonic level, but also on a lyrical one – we’ll dive deep into it in the interview below.
We write about a fair amount of projects on Mesmerized, but only a few can boast the hypnotising artistry that ELDR is able to convene. Find out more below!
Hey ELDR, how is it going? we are big fans of your experimental, cathartic approach to music. Boundary-breaking artists such as yourself make our industry better. What can the readers expect from your project? Is there a particular ethos behind it?
Thank you so much for the kind words! ELDR (pronounced ‘elder’- an abbreviation of my last name) is a melancholic indie pop project. It’s my first solo project and draws together a lot of musical paths in my life so far. I wanted to create a highly imaginative and evocative space, where the music transports you to an emotionally cathartic place. My lyrics often draw on difficult and vulnerable experiences in life, which I think a lot of people can relate to. I hope the music can promote a kind of radical self-acceptance and healing in that sense. We are all creatures of need- that’s my mantra!
Continuing on the theme above – how did your musical journey unfold? Your real name – Marina Elderton – might be familiar to some; your composing and cinematic efforts have been rewarded and acknowledged across the board.
I have a bit of an unconventional background in comparison to classically trained composers for film. Before I went to film school, I taught myself music by ear as a teenager. I’d been playing in different groups from lo-fi fuzzy improvised stuff played in galleries, to ethereal psych played in every dodgy pub in England, and then more polished studio-based electronic work. I was lucky enough to then get a scholarship to The National Film and Television School- it was like a military boot camp with extremely high standards, but it helped break down my artistic ego and go deeper into my practice, as well as improving my production skills.
I was later told by one of the tutors that I was considered a ‘wild card’ because of my self-trained background. All of that experience really helped hone my compositional and artistic voice, all of which I now bring to ELDR as well as my soundtracks.
Your recently released record ‘Deer Skin’ is an absolutely STUNNING piece of music. Evocative, hypnotising, packing intensity but also elegance, the track builds its character on leftfield electronic goodness and alt-pop fierceness. From a sonic standpoint, are you satisfied with the final result?
Thank you so much, I’m so glad it resonates! A lot of labour and love went into it I have to say- my producer Knut Jonas Sellevold and I made a conscious choice to strip things right back with this track, and let the core elements breathe. I wanted something that felt raw and fresh with both an electronic and organic feel in one, and I think we’ve achieved that. It was really great to work with an amazing harpist called Andy Aquarius. He brought a beautiful earthy plucked tonality to the track which dances around the more mechanical lo-fi rhythm in such a hypnotic way I think. Even though this is a solo project, it wouldn’t exist without the inspiring talents of my collaborators!
On a lyrical level, we know that ‘Deer Skin’ stems from personal experience; are you comfortable with sharing more about the circumstances behind it? Also, do you see the song as a melancholic offering or as a more nuanced, complex piece of work?
I guess you could say there’s an intentional saccharine quality in the work- the track is both melancholic and energised in one. Lyrically it deals with a past experience, which I try not to dwell on too much now, but the trauma from it still seems to resonate in my creative output. When I was a teenager I fell madly in love with a very unstable person who was much older than me. There was an inherent power imbalance due to the age gap, and a lot of psychological abuse and coercion slowly unfolded. He was religious and apocalyptic, and said that if I left him ‘the devil’ would come for me.
I think some people don’t understand why people stay for so long in abusive situations. What can be confusing are the parallel sensations of love and fear. The somewhat alluring power dynamic constantly at play makes you feel like a deer being hunted and teased- and that’s what Deer Skin is all about. Finally finding the strength to leave was probably one of the most empowering acts of my life. I talk about this openly because I hope it will help others going through similar situations – it’s so important to stay connected to your own inner voice because most abusers intentionally disconnect you from that. So you end up numb, inert and terrified of leaving. Music is the greatest therapist for me, and it really helped me re-gather.
Do you feel more confident writing music alone, or within a team?
I like to be in quite an insular meditative space to write music, so I normally write the first stage of the songs alone. It helps me go to a deeper space, and draw on more personal vulnerable emotions. I then bring the tracks to my producer and other collaborators, who help bring out the shape and colour in the music. I definitely appreciate the objectivity my producer Knut brings, he’s an incredibly talented musician in his own right.
Please tell us more records are coming!… we’d love to hear more from you. Any plans for further release this year?
Yes, more music is coming! I’ll be releasing another track later this year- it’s actually a remix of my first release ‘Defender’. We’ve used a similar stripped-back production approach to ‘Deer Skin’ and it has totally transformed the song in what I feel is a very exciting direction. We’re just finishing the music video for that now- visually it’s probably my most ambitious piece yet. I ride a horse through a dense forest while wearing a long ritualistic black robe- so it was a mad one to make!
We know first-hand how the music industry can be a tough landscape to operate in; if you were to give a piece of advice to every aspiring artist out there, what would that be?
Releasing your own music independently can be incredibly challenging mentally and financially, so I completely understand why modern musicians struggle to stay motivated. In the hard times, I’d advise any musician to remember what it is that drew them to make music in the first place. Often it comes from an unconscious, beautiful place, before the burden of having to think like a marketeer takes over. The self-promotion necessary on social media can be extremely draining, but at the same time, it gives independent artists access to millions of potential listeners- all of which 10 years ago could only be accessed through gatekeepers like record labels. So there are pros and cons to where things have evolved. I think the main ammunition any of us have is determination, self-belief and hard work. If you’re looking for outside validation or are constantly chasing vanity metrics, you will never win. It’s got to come from a joyful place to be sustainable.
Any live shows on the horizon?
I’ve just given birth to my second child! So I’ll be focussing on new music for a bit around that, but I hope to get back to performing live when I’m physically ready. I’d love to play some shows abroad and some festivals next.
