Eloise
Eloise is Eloise Flora, a UK artist with an affinity to pop culture and horror. She has released 2 singles in the past few months:
She is working on her follow-up to her debut EP Marie Antoinette with an assortment of producers. FEMMUSIC was honored to speak to her about her process.
FEMMUSIC: Let’s begin with “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” I’ve heard you describe the song as both a reaction to violence against women and also taking the role of the damsel in distress and making her the murderer. How did the song evolve for you both lyrically and musically? Did it change working with Mikko Gordon in the studio?
E: The song is built from ideas and phrases that I’d been playing with for a while, I keep a list of ideas I want to work with on my phone and often they are more aesthetically driven. When I went into the studio with Mikko and started writing, the ideas kind of merged into one, I found links between things I hadn’t seen at first and it was only listening back to the song after the session that I was struck by what I was really talking about, it was more than a bunch of phrases inspired by vintage pulp illustrations.
FEMMUSIC: Your previous single “Suckers” takes on vampires. How did that song come about? How much did you change it in the studio working with Lewis Gardiner?
E: I hadn’t seen it that way but I guess it’s about emotional vampires haha! I first wrote the chorus for Suckers on piano and it was quite light, I originally saw it as being kind of happy and sarcastic, but when Lewis made the dark beat in the studio Suckers just fit.
FEMMUSIC: I understand you’re working on a new EP due out next year. How has working on this EP been different than Marie Antoinette? What is your vision for this EP?
E: I think my life and worldview has just shifted a lot, I wrote most of the tracks from my last EP when I was 17/18 and still at school. I think Marie Antoinette was much more trapped in other worlds and metaphorical concepts, my music is becoming far more personal and honest which I hope comes through on the EP.
FEMMUSIC: I’ve already mentioned Mikko Gordon & Lewis Gardiner. What other producers have you been working on the EP with? What do you look for in a producer?
E: When I was out in LA I had a great session with AG, writing a track which is due for release at the end of October. That was a fun session because working with women is often very different, not to say it’s better or worse, it just brings out something different I think. I definitely look for people who are open to my ideas, a lot of the stuff I come up with is weird and nonsensical so I definitely need to work with people who are willing to stick with me when I’m coming up with weird imagery and help tailor it.
FEMMUSIC: Can you describe your songwriting technique?
E: It’s not very structured! I am a bit all over the place creatively, I get very excited and inspired by things visually and sonically so songs come to me from different places. Sometimes I’ll see some vintage picture online and think of 50 phrases I want to write about and other times I will hear a song and want to replicate the way it made me feel sonically. Mainly though, lyrics are at the forefront for me and that is usually where I start,
FEMMUSIC: What song (not your own) has had the biggest influence on you and why?
E: Definitely ‘Video Games’ by Lana Del Rey, I just remember the first time I heard it and how much it struck me. I’d never heard something that sounded so much like the inside of my own brain. It influenced me through my admiration for her dedication to the imagery and visual worlds that she loves, which is something I can see in my writing from when I first started in my early teens.
FEMMUSIC: As a woman in the music industry have you been discriminated against?
E: I think it’s just tricky sometimes when it comes to writing, I’ve definitely worked with men who saw me as a voice and not a writer which is frustrating as someone who puts their lyrical agenda first.
FEMMUSIC: Whom would you most like to collaborate with, or tour with? Why?
I would love to write with Kate Bush. She has such a dominant presence in her own music and I can imagine writing something really weird and nuts with her which is my plan most of the time. I also love how successful she’s been as a woman writing intellectual songs, I am a fan of anyone who writes a smash hit named after a C19 novel.
FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to change about the music industry?
E: For me it’s more that I’d like to change the way people consume music. I think like social media people like things to be easily accessible and fast and that makes the more creatively indulgent and offbeat music elitist; people stick with the weird music from major artists but they don’t give as much of a chance to artists starting out with things that are a bit offbeat and not big radio tunes.