The Letter Elle's biggest musical inspirations

Hey Elle, hows your week been - walk me through your every day/weekly routine?

It’s been good all things considered! It’s pretty weird to be at home this much because I’m usually a very busy person! But it’s nice just having some time to be at home. I’ve been a very present ‘dog-mum’ which has been super lovely! To keep a bit of routine, I’ve been trying to take my dog for a short bushwalk every day and do some sort of exercise, and practise an instrument for at least 30 minutes a day. I think having even just a slight routine is helping me keep a bit of sanity at the moment! I’ve just been trying to not spend too much time on screens - but I’m not always successful! I do still teach a few music students via skype as well which is good to give me some structure to my week.

Your song is called ‘Sunrise’ - what was your inspiration around the track?

My newest track, ‘Sunrise’ is a song that I subconsciously wrote to myself whilst I was being forced to slow my life down. After I graduated uni, I had done some damage to my voice that resulted in me needing vocal rest for over three months. This meant I couldn’t practise, gig, or teach which is usually my day job. So I suddenly had a LOT of time on my hands. My partner and I went to stay in our hometown for a few weeks. We spent a lot of time at the beach and doing things purely for enjoyment. I really began to realise how much I needed time to just be calm and mindful. I started waking up early to watch the sunrise and spending my nights outside watching the moon and the stars. I started having so much more appreciation for simply ‘ being’. I think this is super relevant to a lot of other people’s situations now and where they are at! I hope this inspires people to keep pushing through in these weird times and appreciate the Earth for it’s simple things.

Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

I would have to say Matt Corby and MEG MAC. Matt Corby writes such interesting and complex tracks but makes them sound so catchy and appealing for listeners. I think he is so skilled as a multi-instrumentalist too! MEG MAC just has the most incredible voice and her cover of ‘Grandma’s Hands’ really inspired me to begin exploring Ableton and production years ago.

What’s the biggest challenge and lesson you’ve learnt as an emerging artist?

Unfortunately creating the song isn’t usually what you spend the most time on! If you are self-managed like me, you’ll soon realise that you are NEVER done with admin tasks or creating content. The marketing/business side of things is the killer time-wise! So doing everything and making sure you’re on top of all your social media and different organisation tasks can take forever. Other than that, it’s so rewarding and so much fun. You do have to have a strong belief in your work because no matter how well you’re doing you will always get criticism. You need to be able to stand up for yourself because music is so subjective for everyone.

What is the first thing you will do once the pandemic is over that you’ve missed the most that is non-music related?

I can not wait to be able to go to the beach (for reasons other than exercise of course!). I also can’t be able to go camping/on roadtrips in my van again!

For those who don’t know who ‘The Letter Elle’ is, how would you describe who you are in 3 words?

Hard-working (hope that counts!), quirky and free-spirit.