Spotlight On... Elisabeth Elektra

We’ve wanted to spotlight synth-pop composer and femme witch Elisabeth Elektra for the longest time, but we've been waiting a while for the follow-up to her 2020 debut, Mercurial. Though her indie supergroup Silver Moth gave us the powerful and primordial Black Bay in early 2023, it was only at the end of that year, when Elektra dropped Broken Promises, that we saw her sophomore album’s first sign of life. That EP teased some of the electric episodes from her forthcoming release, such as The Dream, and the Broken Promises track itself, which featured Scottish scene mainstays Mogwai.

We’d been eagerly awaiting the full album for what feels like an astrological age, but Hypersigil finally hit shelves last week on 6 June. An elaborate, empowered pop album made in collaboration with CHVRCHES’ Jonny Scott, Hypersigil shows many sides to the Glasgow artist. Compared to Mercurial, there’s still glittery and irresistibly danceable tracks like Desire and Unbreakable, but there’s a use of darker and more seductive tones, like the thunderstorm of synth notes that hit in album opener Yearning. Beyond these anthems exploring intimacy, there are moments of vulnerability and humanity; on cathartic closer The Stars, Elektra sings “When the night falls down around you, around me / I will be your friend forever / When the night falls down around you, around me / We will tend your wounds together”. Though a magician never reveals her tricks, we asked Elektra about the project and she was generous enough to provide some background.

First off, congratulations on the new album! It's been five years since you released Mercurial – in that time, what set you on the path to make Hypersigil? Did you already have an idea of what you wanted before you began production, or was a lot of the material revealed to you in the process?

Thank you so much! Yeah, it’s really wild how long it’s been since Mercurial was released – surreal how different the world is now. I started on Hypersigil right after I released Mercurial, so it’s been finished for a while, but I had the Silver Moth Black Bay release and tours happening in 2023/2024, which delayed my own release.

I write a lot of songs, and I had a bunch that I felt worked together and had relationships to one another, and that’s where Hypersigil came from. I had already recorded full versions of the songs at home and had played a few of them live already, so when I went into the studio, the direction for the album was clear. I definitely think, though, that more of the essence of the record was revealed in the recording process – it always is. 

References to magic have always been there in your artistry – even the name Hypersigil comes from Scottish comic book writer Grant Morrison's concept of a piece of art that doubles as a spell. How does one go about creating artwork infused with magic? Are there any rituals or practices from which your inspiration comes?

I think making art is magick; that’s the spell. Just make the art. Be always in service of the art, and it will transform you. 

I’m not into magic in the way people might expect. I don’t observe the moon phases, or any earth-based magical practices; it’s really not my thing. I just believe in art as a transformative medium, both for the artist and the person who comes into contact with the art. 

That said, I am fascinated by the occult and I do like chaos magick (Hypersigil is a chaos magick term), but probably precisely because it’s secular and you make your own rules — anything is magick if you want it to be.

Elisabeth Elektra. Image: Greta Kalva.

Hypersigil was produced with Jonny Scott of CHVRCHES. What was it like working with Jonny on the album? You've worked with many collaborators over the years, including your bandmates in Silver Moth. What draws you to those you collaborate with? 

Working with Jonny on the album was great. He’s a friend and really understands my music. I think we have complementary skills and strengths. I don’t think I’m a natural collaborator because I write alone and my music is very personal, so it’s nice to find someone I can trust to the level I trust Jonny with my songs.

Silver Moth came from a trip to a recording studio that I thought was a holiday/fun creative practice, but turned into an album. I’ve loved working with Ben, Ash, Matt, and Stuart. I really enjoy being in a truly collaborative space where there’s no one person in charge; I’ve learned a lot from everyone.

I think ultimately what draws me to a collaborator is whether I get on with them. If we get along, the music will likely feel good to make, and that’s what it’s all about.

Sexuality and empowerment seem to be big themes across the record, especially on the singles Yearning and Desire. Were these always themes you wanted to share in your work? Also, as a femme nonbinary person, I really appreciate your description of your music as femme pop – what does the term femme pop mean to you?

I don’t really ever plan what I’m going to write about; it all just comes out. I think I use songwriting as a way to process unconscious feelings, so the same themes pop up over and over again, like in dreams. I think perhaps I put these songs together because they all share themes of sexuality and empowerment – I’m not sure I was aware of it at the time, so thank you for reflecting that. 

It actually means a lot that you resonate with Femme Pop as a term. I am a very femme person, but I have no inner sense of gender. So I really relate to the term non-binary too. I like the term ‘femme’ because it’s inclusive of all genders, but also I choose femme pop because I think we sadly live in a femme-phobic world and a very femme-phobic music industry. Femme people are still dismissed, belittled, judged, and made to carry more than people who aren’t femme. Our work is taken less seriously. I notice that myself and other femme friends are absolutely taken less seriously than our contemporaries of all genders who present as less femme, even here in Scotland, where we pride ourselves on being more progressive. 

We need to resist in whatever small ways we can, and me embracing the femme aspect of myself feels like a very small resistance.

Aside from three different coloured vinyl pressings to promote the release, the occult website chaostarot.com have created a sigil generator, which is incredibly cool. How does it work? And if Hypersigil is a piece of art that doubles as a spell, what sort of effect are you hoping to cast over your listeners?

The sigil generator is so great. I am unbelievably excited that CamRev from chaostarot.com was up for this collaboration. I’ve used the website for many years; in fact, in terms of rituals, this may be the only one that really influenced the album. I made a lot of sigils during its creation, many of them on Chaos Tarot! So this is very fun.

It works by setting a statement of intent, then inputting it to the website, which makes a sigil for you. You can then charge it by whichever method you prefer. 

Maybe this is selfish, but the spell with Hypersigil is for me. Making it was the spell, a spell of liberation and self-determination – I think the right people will resonate with that, understand it and feel that same energy within it. You can never control how others respond to music, so as a musician, I really believe you should be making music for yourself primarily.

And finally, is there anything in the works for the near future? What are the rest of your plans for 2025?

I have a few live shows planned: on 15 August I’m supporting the Sisters of Mercy at the Kelvingrove Bandstand in Glasgow; on 20 September I’m playing Queer Theory at Nice N Sleazy’s in Glasgow; and on 28 September I’m headlining the Cluny in Newcastle.

I’ve also finished a new album; I’m just seeking funding to be able to record it, but I’m incredibly excited about it, and sonically it’s a departure from Hypersigil. I plan on spending the rest of the year finishing recording and building the visual world for the project.

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Hypersigil is out now. Follow Elisabeth on Instagram @elisabethelektramusic