A collection of songs often reflects a particular stage in an artist’s life – where they are, who surrounds them, and how they feel within themselves. Elina’s ‘A Place I Recognise‘ is as raw, intimate and honest as it gets: an ode to coming home, leaving the chaos of city life behind, and discovering what it truly means to find love – both with another person and within oneself.
Here, she opens up about the stories behind each heartfelt note…
You’ve described ‘A Place I Recognise’ as a homecoming – an EP woven with themes of healing, courage, and self-discovery. In your own words, what personal experience inspired you to write such an honest and heartfelt collection of songs?
I would say it’s a direct creative result of what life has been like over the past year and a half. I recently made the big, scary decision to move out of Stockholm and with that I closed a chapter of nearly ten years, one in which I gained heaps of experience but lost big parts of myself. Pursuing a career in music came at a high price for me and I don’t think I had the tools until now to steer my life in a different direction and regain control. These songs reflect all of that.
From ‘Scars,’ which explores loving someone not despite their flaws but because of them, to the art of letting go in ‘Cutting Ties,’ each track seems to reflect a deeper turn inward. Which song holds the most personal significance for you, and why?
’Cutting Ties’ is definitely the one I most needed to get out of my system. You know how people talk about how songwriting can help you express things that are hard to put into words in a normal conversation, and that’s exactly how I feel about this song. It’s a song I can lean on, it explains what I’ve carried inside for ages but never managed to express properly.
The EP has a lush, cinematic quality. If it could serve as the soundtrack to any film, which would it be – and what makes it the perfect fit?
Thank you! Wow, that’s a tricky one.. I wouldn’t say these are a perfect fit but I love films like Captain Fantastic, Into the Wild, Thelma & Louise, and so on – stories with deeper meaning that spark a bit of existential reflection. So maybe something along those lines!
How does ‘A Place I Recognise’ reflect where you are in your career right now – and in what ways does it differ emotionally and musically from ‘Under Different Skies?’
‘A Place I Recognise’ sort of feels like the big sister to ‘Under Different Skies.’ Writing ‘UDS’ was the starting point for diving even deeper into the experiences, lessons, and understandings I explored on ‘APIR.’ It’s also musically more raw. I’ve been reflecting on this a lot and I genuinely feel like I’ve come home more than ever both lyrically, musically and visually with this recent EP. I’m really proud of it, and even more proud of the people who helped create it. Making it has been such a cathartic experience.