Elke contains multitudes. A lot of that has to do with growing up. Her dad was “released from the military” after he was drafted because his feet were too big for his Army-issued shoes. He moved to Vegas and became a craps dealer and then had Elke, real name Kayla, in New Orleans. Because of her father’s nomadic career in the casino industry, she moved from Louisiana to Mississippi, then Crystal Lake, Illinois, then to Pittsburgh, boarding school in Virginia, then Las Vegas where she got into trade shows, and was headhunted by a modeling agency and moved to New York City at the age of 17. For Elke, that has been a lot to put together creatively.
“I think I’ve always struggled with connecting all the pieces to make something whole because I’m kind of this, I’m kind of that. I could be anything really.” But she successfully navigated that into an album. “The fact that I can be anything made me something. And I was able to package that and have it forever with this record.”
Her album Divine Urge is also kind of this and kind of that. It’s a massive amount of ideas careening into and off of each other in something that could be chaotic, but ends up being interestingly unpredictable. That could be the product of two collaborators experimenting in the studio for, kind of, the first time. Elke chose Jake McMullen, who had never co-produced, to work with her. Together they shouted ideas like, “make this more froggish” or “I should sound like an angry coach” to create the album’s sonic identity, which has Animal Collective’s spastic pastiche and LCD Soundsystem’s electric propulsion. And though it is heavy on 808s and Logic wizardry, the album has a connection to all things earthy and natural, right down to putting you into The Shire on the last song for what Elke envisioned as a Hobbit party. “We just turned on the mic and screamed and yelled and romped around the room together like we were in The Shire,” she recalls. The album is everything at once. Just like Elke.
On finding her low voice
Elke: When I started I put on an accent because I really loved Regina Spektor. I had to go through that phase to get here now and I salute it. I’ve gone through exposure therapy to understand who I am, so I sat there and watched the videos of me singing like that. In my family there was an expectation to be feminine. When I found my low voice I was like, “Oh god, this is so me.” I felt very masculine. I often feel like a man. I find it confusing and don’t know how to categorize myself in this world. So I just categorize myself as Elke. When I found that low voice it made me feel like it’s who I really am.
On looking for signs
Justin Barney: In “Standard Information,” you are talking about looking for a sign. What was going on where you felt that you needed one?
Elke: That song is probably the most personal song on the record. My parents’ style of raising me was very strict. The vibe was that children should be seen and not heard. I didn’t learn a lot of lessons from them because they didn’t really process my actions with me. That lead to some of the biggest traumas of my life. So, in that song, I am trying to find closure in them. I’m in this cycle of always running into the same problems and not having solutions for them. I remember when I finished that song I played it once all the way though on piano and I just started bawling. That’s never happened before. That song meant so much to me because I found the world for something that had been troubling me for so long.
JB: There is also another voice on that song.
Elke: Oh yeah, Hayley Williams. I asked her if she could sing like the lady in the Pink Floyd song, “The Great Gig in the Sky.” She was like, “Okay, cool. Got you.” And just started doing it. In one take. She’s a monster.
JB: Is it just implied that Zac [Farro, Paramore’s drummer and Elke’s partner] will do drums on the record?
Elke: Absolutely. It’s like, “clear your schedule.” But he’s just so excited to do it. And such a genius.
On the influence of nature in the album
Elke: Whenever I imagined the nature of this album in my head, it was always animated. That’s why everything sounds so hyper in a way. It’s like that one scene in Princess Mononoke where the deer is in the woods and the sun is shining through and everything is shimmering. In nature, I wanted to like, eat it. I didn’t want to plant a garden. I wanted to smash myself into it.
On physicality
Elke: My brain is so wired to be super physical. I feel like an Olympian or gymnast or something as a creative person. I was a cheerleader for a long time. I also played softball and soccer. My nickname was Crazy Kayla when I was growing up because I had so much energy. I went to Culvers one day as a kid and the lady at the window was like, “Are you Crazy Kayla?” and I was like, “Yes I am.” I have always used my body to express myself. And I think that has carried on to this day and will forever.
JB: When I saw you last on stage you had two knee braces. What happened there?
Elke: I was opening for Paramore in South America and I came down and I split both of my MCLs. Both knees caved in on the ground and I heard a snapping sound. I just remember looking up and catching eyes with the security guard, and he gave me this scared look. I gave it right back to him, and then just turned around and finished the show. Finished the tour, too.
