We were lucky to catch up with Elthia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Elthia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

“wildfire” is my most recent single, and it is truly the most in-depth I’ve ever worked on a song. A few years ago, I had a dream of a little girl sitting by the door of a cabin. A wildfire blazed outside as she looked out and sang the line, “I am broken down without you.” I imagined that she was waiting for her mother to rescue her, and that the two would spend their days searching tirelessly for one another. I wrote this story to honor the girl I saw.

My favorite lyric is, “Every first Sunday, she trekked among the low graves, turning stone after stone for a sign” – to me, it symbolizes the endless journey of searching for answers, the weight of grief after losing a loved one, the lack of closure when you didn’t get to say goodbye, the uncertainty that the person you love is still out there, looking for you, and the dying hope of seeing each other again.

I worked on this song with my partner, Charlie Sehres, who is an incredible producer and mixer. We made this song at home, using found-sound percussion (lighting matches, hitting our fists on desks, closing doors) mixed with synthetic sounds. I’m a classical guitarist and I had a lot of fun arranging and recording the guitar parts! There are loads of layers and harmonics, and I played around with a bunch of different techniques to get interesting sounds (I even used the guitar to mimic a harp in the verses).

I also made a lyric video for “wildfire”, which features a small cabin I made using stuff around my apartment. It shows the place where I first saw the girl sitting & watching the wildfire outside.

This project means so much to me because my goal is to bring my world to life in everything I create – each song I release is an exploration into the ethereal, ominous, and surreal world of Elthia, and I’m so grateful to share it with you.

Elthia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Elthia and I’m an indie pop musician in LA. My songs combine real stories with fantastical elements, featuring character pieces and ghost stories that I set to music.

I love making all of the visual elements in my work – I’ve created several wearable art pieces, using dripping candles, demitasse spoons, and skeletal claws, which are all featured in my music videos. My music video, “little delights”, features lots of bright colors, silver accents, and quirky moments, all inspired by Wes Anderson films. Currently, I’m getting ready to film my next music video, “medusa”, which features several costumes I’ve created (one of them is a 15-foot long snake tail).

In October 2020, my debut single, “i love you but you make me cry” went viral online and generated millions of streams. I’ve just released my most recent single, “wildfire”, and I’m getting ready to release “medusa” later this fall.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

What I find the most rewarding is the ability to create the cinematic universe for my art and share that with my fans.

As I’m working on music, I create lots of jewelry and costumes for my single art and music videos. I actually just finished a dress for my upcoming video, “medusa” – the dress has about 1,000 different pieces that I cut out and sewed on, and it took me over a year to create. Another piece I’m really proud of is the candle ring on the cover of my single, “i love you but you make me cry”. The two candle rings are made from hot glue, clay, and candles, and I made tears to match. I love when I conceptualize a piece and then bring it into the real world – it’s like a puzzle, figuring out which materials can work best for certain projects.

Once the creation process is done and I get to share my work, the most incredible and rewarding feeling I have is the reaction from fans. I released my song, “wildfire”, and got so many incredible, lovely messages about what the song made them think about and all of the scenes they imagined. I love that they share their stories with me and that we can experience these moments together.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal in my art is to tell stories. I don’t believe that art can be boiled down to one concept, but if I had to come close, I would say that all art is storytelling. I focus on creating characters, writing how they would feel, and bringing their stories to life. I think of my art very much like its own world, and I create stories for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.ai/elthia
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duchesselthia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/duchesselthia/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/duchesselthia
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/elthia/

Image Credits
Charlie Sehres