*Photo credit: Jacq Justice. Styling: Tay Sorrell*

Emerging from the rich musical landscape of New England and now making waves in Nashville, Meg Elsier stands out as a captivating new talent in the indie-rock scene. Meg is forging a distinctive sonic identity with a unique blend of sweet, ethereal vocals and opulent melodies set against a backdrop of grungy guitars and hefty production. Her sharp wit and keen self-awareness shine through her lyrics, adding depth and texture to her mesmerizing shoegaze sound. As she continues to carve her own path, Meg Elsier is poised to become a defining voice of her generation.

Nicolle: Hi, Meg! Can you please introduce yourselves a little to any new potential fans?

Meg: hi, I'm meg!! I'm originally from Massachusetts but have been based in Nashville for a while now. I like to be a little paradoxical in my music and blend things like soft vocals and crunchy guitars. Or singing about tragic things while having a shit-eating grin on my face. I'm a January Aquarius girly-pop with a lust for life and a severe anxiety disorder. I also love my cat.

Nicolle: What are some of the most recurring themes throughout your songs?

Meg: I was actually just thinking about this the other day and noticed a lot of songs on this record and some that I have written more recently, reference cars and driving. To be honest, I daydream like crazy in the car and have a lot of deep-thought moments there. I think it's been such a steady part of my life and the act of changing and growing up. It kind of seems like it slipped into the music without me knowing. Another theme throughout the album is the idea of "honesty of dishonesty." I kept feeling like I was lying to myself or avoiding some truth and writing this album was a way to sift through those feelings and cope with life.

Nicolle: What/who are your biggest influences? Do you listen to old stuff from, let's say, the 80s, or do you prefer contemporary music?

Meg: Hmm…I always find this question so hard because I get inspired so easily and I'm impressionable as f*ck, so it's kinda hard to even make a list. One thing that I know inspires me is the moments in songs that could be mistaken or could be thought-out micro-creations, but just those moments that bring so much humanity and realness to the music. Those moments shift and influence my music the most. Like “Subzero Fun” by Autolux has the simplest yet incredible timing of when the cymbal fades in and out of the song. Or (this is gonna sound like such an asshole vibe, but hear me out) Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker has this section where the woodwinds pop in, and you can HEAR them breathing and counting time, and it just feels so visual. Maybe that's the main influence?! Very visual music.

I love music truly from whatever time or place in space. I love it. I can appreciate a Bob Dylan tune and then bop on over to shake my ass to Kim Petras. There's so much to connect to as people, and I find so much of myself in both older and contemporary music. Lately, though I would say this is pop-girly summer for me! Like 'BRAT' (Charli XCX) is gonna tear this place down. It's incredible seeing artists like Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Caroline Polachek, and Sabrina Carpenter just completely own the space.

Nicolle: You have a very cool way of stylizing your song titles, what made you decide to do it this way?

Meg: Omg, thank you! I normally apologize and say, “I was just being annoying,” which to be honest I kinda was…But the names just started from when I named “ifshitfuq,” and then thought, “That feels right, I'll just keep it.” And from then on, I felt like I stuck with that mentality. If it felt right, it was gonna stay, and I felt inspired to make all of the other song titles connected. The all-lowercase vibe was more me feeling like none of these were proper names and even in the language/those minor details I wanted it to feel like that.

Nicolle: What made you want to become a musician? Was there a particular song or artist that inspired you, or did you know from a young age this is what you wanted to do?

Meg: I actually don't really know the answer to this question, so I'm gonna try and walk it backwards and see if I get anywhere. My memory is terrible, but there wasn't one time in my life that I didn't know how important singing was to my being. But for me, singing was also always connected with intense fear. So growing up feeling that much about something so important to me was so confusing, but I think it influences my art a lot more than I give it credit. Growing up I listened to a lot of The Beatles, Queen, Warren Zevon and musical theatre soundtracks. But to be honest, I think that influenced my colour palette but not the urge to become a musician. I truly think it was like a “love at first sight” and a “when you know you know” feeling.

Nicolle: If you could pick someone to collaborate with, who would it be?

Meg: Bjork. It's gotta be Bjork. It can't NOT be Bjork.

Nicolle: How did moving to Nashville influence your writing process?

Meg: It influenced it like crazy! Living in Boston and having friends in Nashville opened me up to folk and Americana music. I fell in love with the writing style that to me can tell the universe's secrets using the simplest language, which is something I strive to do.

Funnily enough, moving to Nashville inspired me to stop playing my acoustic guitar so much and focus on electric. It influenced me to have the courage to not be the typical sound in Nashville. The community here is just so great and open that it gives you the time and space to learn what you want to be.

Nicolle: Do you have songwriting rituals? If yes, what are they?

Meg: Not really a ritual. I do tend to know if a song is gonna come out within 20 minutes of just sitting down and trying to write. So I hold that feeling very dearly and try not to push if I'm not translating my thoughts well. Also, don't write songs high, but record the demos high. Less of a ritual and more of a lesson learned.

Nicole: Who would you love to write a song together with? Both alive and dead.

Meg: Honestly, I think writing a song with my mom would be sweet. I just kind of want to know what's going on in her head, and if she has similar thoughts to me or would write similarly to me. Also, I would love to collaborate with the boys writing the Gregorian chants. Not kidding, that stuff is gorgeous and mathematical as hell and I love it!

Nicolle: At what age did you write your first song? What was it about?

Meg: Oh, I have no idea what age I was, but I was definitely very young! I can try and remember a few. One was definitely like "Song for the Wind." I think I tried to notate it and I'm pretty sure it didn't translate correctly. And there was one that I wrote when my hamster died the SAME DAY my sister beat the Deku Tree in Zelda. I do think I wrote the same way I do today. I remember not being able to stop writing and then feeling like GOD when it was done.

Nicolle: Last but certainly not least, you have a debut album coming out in a few weeks called spittake, can you give us some hints on what to expect? What was writing it like? Who did you work with on it?

Meg: spittake was produced and mixed by Ryan McFadden. The processes of writing and recording seemed so separate in my head. Writing these songs and writing any song really, I never have the intention of making a record. I just need to digest something that for some reason turns into a song. The songs on this record though, I felt so incredibly confident about the songs and I felt heard and just seen listening back to them. Even if I was only being seen by myself, it was still such an important moment of realizing this made me feel nice and maybe better. Then I started to wonder what other people would feel, or what it would feel like to play these songs on stage. The songs that wound up being this record called for more digging, which I did by playing them out and making demos by myself. But then the songs called for MORE DIGGING and that's when Ryan McFadden entered the chat. Ryan is a producer who only wants to champion his artists. His main goal was to make the music sound more like me. I think I'm the luckiest human ever to be able to work with someone like him. He adds so much of himself and his taste while still defending the integrity of the artist's heart it. It seems simple, but I honestly don't think it is. I think it's rare and beautiful. He truly taught me you can add people into the equation and get something that sounds more like you than you could have ever had if you did it by yourself.

I don't know what to expect from this album. I know you'll probably be able to tell a lot about me and how my brain works through the lyrics. I think you can expect to feel lightness in a dark topic and sounds inspired by a manic person's playlist. Expect something beautiful and abrasive and funny and interesting like me!!!!!

Meg's debut album is coming out June 28th and you can pre-save it here, and you can follow Meg on her IG here and her TikTok.

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Nicolle Knapova is a 30-year-old young adult writer and freelance blogger from the Czech Republic. She has a master’s degree in Creative Writing and Publishing at Bournemouth University. She loves to write about music, books and TV shows. If she’s not writing her fan fiction, she’s writing her poetry and sharing it on her Instagram @elisecaverly

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