Elisabeth Elektra on prophetic dreams, channeling Prince and the power of music
On the menu: salt water for channeling
Last month, because of my excitement at starting a new substack and beginning my journey of solo hosting The Side Woo podcast, I decided I would publish a new podcast episode a week. Last week, after four weeks of juggling editing and interviewing with other duties like making art, and freelancing, I quickly remembered why I had decided not to do that last year.
And so, instead of a new podcast episode which will come out next Thursday, this week I am revisiting The Side Woo archive to share a recent interview with Elisabeth Elektra, a musician and songwriter living in Glasgow, Scotland.
In our interview, Liz and I talk with Elisabeth about their magickal tendencies and prophetic dreams, including one in which they dreamt about the bombing of the Machester-based Ariana Grande concert the night that it happened. They share their love and affinity for both Prince and yes, Freddie Mercury (who if you have listened to other episodes may know as the patron saint of The Side Woo), as well as what they see as the power of performing and music to connect people. (I have included a video link to her new single, The Dream, below in the show notes.)
“For me as a musician, [performing] is like a ritual. And what happens when you get those rare, incredible performers, you know, who have that ability to transmit that level and that magnitude of love to that many people, it's a transformative ritual. Everybody's heartbeats are gonna synchronize. People's energies, people's frequencies are all going to sync up. And that's the power of music.”
This episode was so amazing to record because Elisabeth talked about so many things that had been on my mind as a visual artist around channeling ideas, and what role the spirit world has in creativity. I have written before about the mystical transference of ideas from one person to another in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic. (So many Elis/zabeths.)
In Elisabeth Elektra’s case, when Prince died, who was a creative guide that they had followed during his career, they became more prolific and the quality of their songwriting improved. There was the sense that maybe some of Prince’s creative energy was dispersed into the universe for others to download and use. Or maybe Prince is visiting Elisabeth and giving her tips. Again it’s hard to say, but I wouldn’t rule it out because as I’m learning - what do we even know?
In my painting, in terms of dead painters, I feel most connected with Matisse and Monet whose work has inspired me since I was little. Whenever I went to my aunt’s house, one of my favorite things to do was look through their art books, among them a few monographs of their favorite Impressionist and Fauvist painters.
Do I get inspiration from them? Absolutely. Do I think that these painters visit me? I hope they do. I feel like when I’m working in the studio, at times I am able to tap into the energy of Matisse’s line or Monet’s insane eye for color to help me through a compositional problem.
I recently bought a collection of books about Matisse and his time spent in Nice which feature a number of his domestic interiors, and women lounging in front of the 2nd-floor window overlooking the Mediterranean. While at first glance Matisse’s paintings depict utopian domestic scenes, at second glance they often take a turn for the dark. The women’s faces are slightly tortured and crudely drawn in. They sit like caged birds, colorfully dressed and stuck inside. While the design of Matisse’s canvas will forever inspire me, the trapped-ness of his women motivates me to offer the female subject, and specifically the odalisque, another role to play.
Show Notes from the episode
Elisabeth Elektra’s collaboration, Silver Moth
Girls, Girls, Girls . . . https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/girls-girls-girls