Photos: Elke to Release Third Album BIG MIKE via Congrats Records
The genre-bending artist strips back production for an intimate album rooted in grief, loss, and self-discovery.
Genre-bending Elke has returned with her most vulnerable work to date. The Nashville-based artist has announced her third studio album Big Mike, out October 30 via Congrats Records. Big Mike is a departure from the maximalist textures of her 2024 release Divine Urge. Lead single 'Pusher' is available to stream alongside a self-directed video by Kayla Graninger (Elke).
Photo Credit: Maria Torres | download high-res
The album title itself is a callback to the larger-than-life figures of her youth in the nineties, legends like Michael Jordan, and most importantly, her father, who she recently lost. There's an emotional whiplash that happens in the aftermath of loss, and that nonlinear cosmology of grief and desire is captured sonically, with plucky, irreverent tracks like lead single 'Pusher.' It's the feeling of wading in the unknown, moving through it, not knowing if you'll laugh or cry or both.
Big Mike takes us back to the beginning, to the growing pains of youth you never outgrew. Across nine tracks, Graninger confesses, pleads, jokes, vows. There's something elemental about the world of Big Mike. Graninger's lyrics are close to the bone, simple and exact. Her voice is clear, unadorned and stripped down. The album cover is untouched. 'I sound like myself,' she says. Having lived through different versions of herself, she's pared it all back, with just her and a guitar on stage. These songs were written in rooms she's painted and fixed up, performed at open-mics for strangers. The result is coherent and natural, the way your shoulders relax around a friend that knows themselves, and how just being around them makes you feel seen and understood, too.
Big Mike takes a big swing, knowing the cost of being performative is higher than the risk of exposing yourself. And when we're ready, Big Mike will be waiting on the other side to greet us, flowers in hand.
Big Mike Tracklisting
Pusher
Breathless
Failed Attempt
We Can't Stop
Toxic Trait
Moon Marquee
Rotisserie
Angel
The Stranger
Photo Credit: Maria Torres | download high-res
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