Elke – Breathless

Earlier this month, genre-bending Nashville artist Elke announced her return. Big Mike, her most vulnerable work to date, arrives on October 30 via Congrats Records.

Today, she shares the second advance offering from the new album, The Virgin Suicides influenced track, “Breathless.”

‘Breathless’ is a song about pining. It started with an idea: what if The Virgin Suicides had a happy ending? What if Trip never left Lux in the field? The stacked Mellotrons are inspired by the score Air made for the film. I don’t usually sing this high, and it makes me feel like Kate Bush (no one will ever be Kate, though!)”  – Elke

The album was announced earlier this month alongside the single “Pusher,” and a self-directed video by Kayla Graninger (Elke).

Sonically, Big Mike is a departure from the maximalist textures of her 2024 release Divine Urge. The album title is a callback to the larger-than-life figures of her youth in the nineties, legends like Michael Jordan, and most importantly, her father, who she recently lost.

Big Mike takes us back to the beginning, to the growing pains of youth you never outgrew. Across nine tracks, Graninger confesses, pleads, jokes, vows. There’s something elemental about the world of Big Mike. Graninger’s lyrics are close to the bone, simple and exact. Her voice is clear, unadorned and stripped down.

The album cover is untouched. “I sound like myself,” she says. Having lived through different versions of herself, she’s pared it all back, with just her and a guitar on stage. These songs were written in rooms she’s painted and fixed up, performed at open-mics for strangers. The result is coherent and natural, the way your shoulders relax around a friend that knows themselves, and how just being around them makes you feel seen and understood, too.

Big Mike takes a big swing, knowing the cost of being performative is higher than the risk of exposing yourself. And when we’re ready, Big Mike will be waiting on the other side to greet us, flowers in hand.

#elke.world