Elizabeth Joan Kelly is a New Orleans-based classical and ambient/industrial electronic music composer. She uses found sounds and MIDI to create lush soundscapes influenced by Zola Jesus, Nine Inch Nails, Portishead, Fever Ray, and The Knife.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Elizabeth Joan Kelly about her latest project, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from southeastern Louisiana–born and raised in Slidell, now live in New Orleans. My musical style is right at the Venn diagram intersection of classical, electronic, industrial, and ambient music. I’ve been told my music is “experimental” or “avant garde,” and I’m also comfortable with those labels. Right now I’m focusing on virtual synths alongside samples or found sounds to create electronic music with a classical twist (or classical music with an electronic twist?). My priorities in music writing are economy of musical material (how I can get the most mileage out of a fragment or motive, for example); interesting and surprising rhythms; lyrical melodies; and complex layering of sounds.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I come from a classical background, taking piano lessons starting when I was 7, majoring in music composition as an undergraduate, and receiving a master’s degree in music composition from a conservatory (thanks Mom and Dad for the support and YEARS of attending piano recitals ). I’ve composed music for both electronics and acoustic instruments (solo, chamber, orchestral, choral) for years now. I’m actually coming off a long hiatus from writing music, so the question of what keeps me going is especially prescient. I love music, and I want to create music that I would like to listen to, and hopefully others will too.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This is my first full release, so that in and of itself is a departure from what I usually do! For this album, Music for the DMV, I was working on a few different pieces when I happened to go to the Orleans Parish Office of Motor Vehicles to renew my license. I anticipated being there for awhile and brought my laptop and headphones so I could keep working on music while I was there. Well, I was there for four and a half hours, so I got a LOT of work done! Sitting there, listening to what I had created, I started thinking about music for a motor vehicles office, in the same vein as Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. I was already working on several electronic arrangements or covers of standard rep classical pieces for this project, sort of an update of muzak, and it got me thinking that maybe we needed music for tense or anxiety-ridden experiences, like spending 4 hours at the OMV/DMV; music that came from the same tradition as elevator music but that reflected a little more angst. Thus, the idea for Music for the DMV was born.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I think it’s both a benefit and a disadvantage that there is so, so much music available right now. In some ways this means the playing field has been evened because you can get your music out there without needing an agent or a record company; I was able to record, mix, and (sort of) master the album all from my own home, using free or cheap technology.
On the other hand, it’s that much harder for your music to be found now that there is so much else constantly being released. And despite this, so many venues for music–streaming platforms, blogs, magazines, radio shows, etc–are still just describing music using only a handful of musical styles or genres, meaning you’re forced to try and pigeonhole yourself when marketing your own music. For those of us working across a few genres, this makes it very difficult to get our music in the hands of the reviewer or DJ who might actually be interested in our brand of sound. For example, I’ve seen Music for the DMV labeled as EDM in a few places. I think that’s pretty misleading! But if you only have a few options, how do you choose?
Still, the internet and social media have definitely helped me. The potential reach is so huge–I’ve been fortunate to develop some internet friendships with a number of musicians, bloggers, podcasters, DJs, etc across the world, and especially in Britain, interestingly. There’s no way that would’ve happened without the internet.
What was the last song you listened to?
“November” off Xqui’s new November EP, released today on Bandcamp! Xqui is one of these new internet friends, a kindred musical soul, who I’ve been lucky to meet online thanks to Twitter and Bandcamp. We’ve already collaborated on a 2-song release, Starchild, that’s on Bandcamp too.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I do most of my music listening in the car, so mp3s. I have a large CD collection that I’m quite fond of but my car doesn’t have a CD player…
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I really like Bandcamp. There’s so much good music; you get to see the album art and notes; and you can feel good about buying music from an artist’s Bandcamp page because, unlike many other streaming platforms or stores, the artist gets most of the profit. If an album’s not on Bandcamp, I’ll usually buy it from Amazon.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Anything else before we sign off?
Thanks for the interview!
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