Context often makes good things better. A great book becomes more immersive when you start to learn about the author and the time it was written. A work of art is richer when you know about the technique and circumstance.

When I first heard Deer Skin (the track embedded above), that’s where my mind went: There’s a lot more to this music. I need to learn about it. I didn’t know what I was getting into:

Meet ELDR, a musician, artist and brilliant weirdo from London. Her musical style is hard to pin down. It’s cinematic and moody, full of atmospherics and poetic lyrics with evocative and occult symbolism.

In this interview she describes her music as “Ethereal alt indie pop with hints of Celtic ancestry?” which sounds perfect (question mark hers, and appropriate).

Her recent videos all feature dance and human movement, heavy on symbolism and style. This one, from the Höly Stranger EP from 2022, is dystopian and creepy:

On her website, there’s another track that hasn’t been commercially released yet, a remix of a track from her first EP Defender from 1999. Here’s another great piece from that EP:

Apparently her parents were into an unusual belief system, and the occult and mystical influences are worked into the music.

Lots of glorious weirdness on display in her live performances. She’s prepared a handy compilation for us, with everything from intimate but conventional piano/guitar arrangements, to a lockdown show where her hair is taped to the wall behind her, to a haunting acapella performance in a church while pregnant (see? I told you it gets more interesting as you learn):

She’s also a composer, having done work for all kinds of film and TV projects, and also a curious little VR game for a short film and merch store (be patient, it takes some time to load).

In this interview she talks about composing music for other people’s work, and this quote is too good to leave out:

You’re bringing someone else’s vision to life. You’re presenting your children and they’ll tell you they hate its hair. You have to be open to criticism. If you’re very precious about your music it won’t work. It’s very humbling and useful in that sense. Your artistic ego has to go out of the window. It

Check out her showreel:

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