Nashville based artist ELKE introduces herself with new single ‘Vacuum’ released via Congrats Records.
Part avant-garde art instalment, part beatnik pop-opera, ELKE (real name Kayla Graninger) breezily channels New York’s underground rock scene in the mid-sixties, with flavours of Nico, Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. It’s also unabashedly modern and innovative in its execution, deftly produced by Kayla’s partner, fellow musician and collaborator, Zac Farro (Halfnoise/Paramore) who also directed it’s stunning video.
The song draws out poignancy and humour from the titular, mundane household item. Speaking on the track, she adds: “I decided a vacuum is what one needed first and foremost because in reaching distance from where I was writing the song was a book I was reading – “Pretend I’m Dead” by Jen Beagin. I had the line already written, “If I could give you anything, I’d give you this”, and from there I had to decide what that was. Seeing the book ignited the idea of a vacuum because the main character cleans homes for a living, and I also have this weird attachment to the sensation of vacuuming, watching the dust get picked up. It’s all my way of saying ‘Wake up! Try harder & make something of yourself!”
