Mystical Musician

Flamboyant Elisabeth Elekra’s music often comes to her in dreams and her new album explores myths, spirituality and reincarnation

Elisabeth tried on other identities – Zyna Hel, Sargasso Sea – on huge global stages like All Tomorrow’s Parties and SXSW before the project came together. It was written over a five-year period and worked on with producers Julian Corrie – of Miaoux Miaoux and Franz Ferdinand – and Lewis Gardiner.

And there’s a visual element to Elisabeth Elektra too, the aquamarine tones and dramatic headdresses photographed by Marina Fini enhance and complement her album’s feminine power.

“Marina is such a catalyst,” says Elisabeth. “She brings out creativity in other people just because she’s so unafraid of what other people think – it gives you permission to have that same kind of energy.”

“The photos were taken in Joshua Tree, in the California desert. Every time Marina and I see each other there’s some kind of strange meteorological occurrence. We were in Paris and there was this horrific stormy rain, then Scotland, where there were these insane winds. I stayed with her in Joshua Tree, and the morning we were due to travel for the shoot it started to snow.

“We’d hired a car and we had to leave it miles away from Marina’s house and hike through the snow to get to her place, with all my suitcases of costumes.”

Releasing the album in the middle of a global lockdown might not have been part of the five-year plan but Elisabeth says that, despite the lack of launch gigs and touring, the reception for the album has been everything she had hoped for.

Production editor Rachel has been trying to stay sane and keep fit by working out on her turbo trainer in the back garden. The dogs are very confused as to why she’s peddling away and yet they’re not going anywhere...