Damsel Elysium on collaboration & rediscovering music

This is how Vogue not just described Damel Elysium, but headlined their 2022 interview with the multi-instrumentalist. And it’s not hard to see, or hear, why. Fresh off the back of a year which saw them joining forces with FKA Twigs, Damsel Elysium joins us in March to perform a working of their debut EP as part of our Purcell Sessions series.

An avant-garde artist not to be ignored, Damsel Elysium has moved through many forms of creation – film-making, acting, fine art and photography – before embarking on this latest stage of their artistic process. Using double bass, violin and original sounds they set out to explore alternative communication and connections with space and nature.

Ahead of Damsel Elysium’s 1 March Purcell Sessions appearance in collaboration with the London Contemporary Orchestra, we caught up with them to find out more about their route into music and their creative approach.

How would you describe your music to someone new to it?

Embodying the in between, trying to understand the depth of the sea and the voice of a tree.

What are your earliest musical memories?

Being inches from the TV watching the pixels of string players on the BBC Proms. That or watching my mother sing and play an old wooden piano in the living room. 

Did you always want to be a professional musician?

I’ve always deeply loved music, and for a time I wanted to be a professional soloist violinist. But I’m a multi-faceted artist and I have explored all avenues of creation such as filmmaking, fine art, acting and photography. When the classical music world rejected my identity and I suffered chronic injury from playing, I bitterly pushed music away from many years. It wasn’t until the pandemic, when I was stuck in my childhood home, that I rediscovered my roots in music and sound and realised it was still possible to have a career in it. 

‘Discovering the LCO was one of the reasons I came back to music. They showed me that I didn’t need to fit the perfect classical mould to create beautiful music. They showed me freedom.’

What’s been your career highlight to date? Has there been a stand-out moment where you’ve looked around at where you are and what you’re doing and gone ‘wow’?

It would have to be the time I performed at the Tate Modern in the huge Turbine Hall in celebration of Surrealism: Beyond Borders exhibition. It was such a crazy day of preparation and I had never done anything like it before, it was stressful and there were so many technical issues. Yet being in that vast space and playing my spirit out alongside my good friends, it was something truly otherworldly. 

What led to you working with the London Contemporary Orchestra? And what about this project excites you the most?

I’ve been following LCO for a number of years, I am beyond in love with everything they do and discovering them was one of the reasons I came back to music. They showed me that I didn’t need to fit the perfect classical mould to create beautiful music. They showed me freedom. So when I was asked to collaborate with them I was overwhelmed with joy, I feel like I’ve been seen! 

I will be working on my debut EP which has been in the works over the last year and I’m so eager for people to finally hear what my world is and to debut it alongside LCO is truly so much more than I could ask for. The EP is made up almost entirely of double bass sounds (besides the last track) and I think it’s going to be totally fascinating to hear those sounds played by other instruments.

‘In 2022 I had the honour and privilege to work with FKA Twigs, with her friends Kelly Moran and Lucinda Chua; it has been wonderful working with a group of insanely talented women.’

What do you look for in a musical collaboration?

Collective resonance. Speaking without words but with sound. 

Are there any other collaborations you’ve been part of so far that have been especially important to your musical development?

Oh yes, 2022 was such a special year. I have had the honour and privilege to work with FKA Twigs, with her friends Kelly Moran and Lucinda Chua; it has been wonderful working with a group of insanely talented women. I have already had the pleasure of being acquainted with LCO when they worked with Celeste for her end of year show; I played double bass with them and it taught me so much. 

If you could work with any musician at all in a future collaboration, who would that be and why?

Oh there are so many people I’d love to work with, at the moment it would be Lafawndah! I think the way she understands performance and sound is so honest and I truly resonate with it. I think her mind has travelled the depths that I have yet to uncover.