We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elijah Sokolow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elijah below.

Elijah , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

This year, I’m releasing an album called Tell Me Who You Are. The album is around 30 minutes long, but it is the result of months of work. Those months spent working on it are some of my greatest musical memories. I’m not sure if it will get streamed more than our other albums or if it will disappear into the spotify void but what I do know at the end of the day is that I stand by the work, I’m proud of the work, and it’s those feelings that keep me going as an artist. It’s really easy to get caught up in what can pay more as an artist even if it’s less meaningful to you but balance is key. There are songs I’ve worked on that have gotten many more streams than the music from The Living Strange, but sometimes I forget that I even worked on those other songs or I don’t feel that proud of how well those other songs do because I’m not as invested in them. Ultimately, I am driven to make stuff meaningful to me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a musician, songwriter, and audio engineer. I got into music because I was so obsessed with listening to it and so excited by it that I had a deep desire to learn how to make music. Once I began playing music, it quickly was the answer to most of my life’s questions. I was privileged enough to take private lessons from a young age and I was very motivated as a teenager to begin forging my path as a musician in a grassroots way. I contacted venues, other musicians, colleges, radio stations, vloggers, and literally anyone that I could think of – to perform, to get music heard, to be active as an artist. I’m most proud of my songwriting in songs like “2020” and “New Pet.” I’ve always loved rock bands but have felt that I wasn’t hearing a lot of rock bands take more risks in their music or incorporate more modern production techniques. That’s changed a lot in the last few years, but when I initially began this project, it was motivated to put a different spin on familiar ideas.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I was recording Tell Me Who You Are, a fair amount of the songs had screaming. I was giving it my all but unfortunately, I was pushing my voice too hard and bruised my vocal chords. We still had a week left at 4th st Recording to finish up our album and the doctor ordered that I go on a complete vocal rest. It was a nightmare for me because so much work went into preparing to make the album and even if I had to sing my parts later, the most important thing was to be able to talk to everyone in the sessions and communicate. I turned to my laptop and essentially creatively directed a week’s worth of recording sessions by typing into my computer and having the computer speak for me. It was a resilient moment of not letting anything stop me from finishing the project the way that I wanted it to be done.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Supporting artists directly is the best way to allow for a thriving creative ecosystem. As our world becomes more and more unaffordable, I think anyone who is a fan of up and coming musicians can support them by buying their music, buying their merchandise, and going to their concerts. With new platforms, it is more possible now than it used to be, for artists to make it work independently.   

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thelivingstrange.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelivingstrange/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelivingstrange
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelivinstrange
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLivingStrange
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thelivingstrange
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3KFCf9WZ1oRE4PQLfUKoHO

Image Credits
Bob Greco