It’s no surprise that ELKI’s latest single, ‘Movie’ feels cinematic in its musical and emotional scope. It was inspired by the silver screen - in particular, a film called The Purple Rose of Cairo in which a girl escapes her unhappy life by getting a little too obsessed with a movie and its leading man. “The film blends reality and fantasy so well and I was really inspired to capture that,” ELKI says.
Starting with two lone piano strikes, tolling like a bell before ELKI’s voice comes in, it’s clear that this is the singer-songwriter at her most raw and direct. Stripping away much of the production techniques that characterised her earlier work, ‘Movie’ makes ELKI’s transfixing vocal the star of the song, delivering a heart-rending tale of romance where the lines are blurred between love and infatuation, fiction and the truth.
Backed simply by a piano throughout the verse, the choruses swell, with ELKI’s voice soaring above stirring string flourishes. It’s easy to lose yourself in the heady romance of the song, swept up in its sense of nostalgia and yearning. So classic in its execution, ‘Movie’ already feels like a song you know and love and want to keep hitting play on, over and over again, much like your favourite movie.
In her short career ELKI has already received approving nods from the likes of Stereogum, Indie Shuffle, Pop Justice and countless influential blogs in the US, UK and Europe. Her previous singles (‘Sirens’, ‘Thunder’ and ‘Golden Age’) have received heavy airplay on triple j, FBi and regional radio in Australia, been playlisted by Spotify and even earned ELKI spins on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. Her considerable talent for song craft has seen her recognised as a finalist in both the International Songwriting Competition 2017 and the Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition 2016. With so much accomplished already, and still yet to release an EP, ELKI’s latest single ‘Movie’ is sure to continue her ascent.