Latvian electronica + fruit and veg
Who She?
A Latvian electronics-led singer/songwriter who’s been raising eyebrows on the European festival circuit with her live show. Alongside her striking vocal style, beguiling flute playing and imaginative use of looping, her solo performances are augmented by an array of fruit and veg, the electromagnetic properties of which are used to trigger and power the MIDI components in her gear. “I found out about the electricity conductive board,” she says, “which allows you to play anything that conducts electricity – fruits, trees, plants, vegetables, kettles, spoons…”.
Why Elizabete Balcus?
The arrival of her new single ‘Ika’ suggests the live show is no gimmick and she can cut it recording-wise too, combining an infectious earworm sensibility and a commanding vocal presence with production mixing spartan bleep techno with lusher melodic textures. “The song is inspired by the story of Icarus from Greek mythology,” she explains, applying the famous fable of coming a cropper by flying too close to the sun to her own ambitions and temptations.
Tell Us More…
Her most immediate plans are for a tour of Italy, where she says audiences are full of positive energy for her work, and her diary’s full of European live commitments until the end of October. Then she’ll be working on the follow-up to her “acoustic baroque pop” debut LP, ‘Conarium’. “I can’t say before what will be in it at the end,” she declares honestly. Its creation, she says, will probably include “a lot of sudden absurd turning points, like a dream when you’re being thrown from one scene into another.”
For more see elizabetebalcus.bandcamp.com
