Eluera Interview - Finding Her Voice
Meet Eluera, a NSW central coast vocalist rising the ranks of the lo-fi pop scene. Eluera is making waves in the scene with her two sensuous singles, 'HIM' and 'Blackout'. We had a chat to Eluera about her two sensational tracks, the future of the project, plus more!
Futuremag Music: How's your relationship with music been like over the years?
Eluera: My relationship with music over the past couple of years became a bit on and off. I was always doing something musical in my younger years, whether it was guitar lessons or singing lessons but when I started to studying a music degree I kind of felt like all my passion for music had been taken away. I lost all desire to play and really just felt like everything I did was terrible. I left that uni and decided to give up on music and try studying advertising/journalism and get a normal job, then one day I was listening to some songs and I was just like "No! I really want to pursue music." So I said to myself just try and really give it your all for a couple of years and if things start going well you will know you’re on the right track. So thats what I’m doing and I’m loving it again!
Futuremag Music: Your debut single 'HIM' was an outstanding release that set you apart from other developing acts. Did you have any prior projects to Eluera? Can you briefly talk us through the process of writing 'HIM'?
Eluera: Prior to Eluera being born I had been trying a couple of things with my friend Sam who use to be my guitar/songwriting teacher. He would have me over and we would have writing sessions and try and get a feel for my sound but I really just had no idea who I was or what I wanted to be/sound like so it was pretty difficult and probably frustrating on him (sorry Sam).
For 'HIM', Dylan ('HIM' producer) had reached out to me after I did some vocals on my friends bands track at his studio, and asked me if I wanted to hang out and have a writing session and see what we could come up with. I sent him a few different voice memos and one of them was the first verse for 'HIM'. He liked it so we started making a track for it before we had actually written all of the lyrics. I wouldn’t usually write like that, but it worked so well for that track! Especially because we had a strong idea of what we wanted it to sound like.
Futuremag Music: Your second release 'Blackout' is a massive tune, comparable to a London Grammar single in sound. How'd you go about writing and producing the single?
Eluera: I had actually started writing the lyrics to a completely different chord pattern and different chorus with acoustic guitar but it just wasn’t working... I didn’t touch it for a couple of months. Then one night, I tried some different things with it and came up with ‘the comedown’ hook. I went back to the studio with Dylan and this time we didn’t even start the track until we were happy with every single lyric in the song. We just sat with our acoustic guitars for two days and fleshed it out. We had no idea what to do production wise! After playing with percussion, pad sounds and tempos, Dylan worked his magic and it became what it is today.
Futuremag Music: Can we expect a similar sound to 'Blackout' in the future?
Eluera: I'm not really sure, I write everything so dark so I’m sure the writing style will always be the same, I love moody progressions and any song that makes you feel some sort of intense emotion, so iI think there will always be elements of that. I am trying to branch out and am keen to write some lighter things, not so depressing!
Futuremag Music: What can we expect from Eluera project in the coming year?
Eluera: This year I’m planning on releasing another single that I’m also working on with Dylan which I am so excited about! I think this is the best one yet. I think I’m definitely becoming more confident in my music and sound so its all becoming a lot easier to harness! Other than that I am re-working my live set, supporting Nicole Millar in my hometown and hoping to play a few more shows!