Cordless News

If you looked and sounded as good as Elsa Chapman what would you do with all this good fortune? Exactly! You'd come on the Cordless Show and give one of the best performances the show has ever seen, and that's exactly what she did! Giving us a great little sample of her upcoming album, the singer/songwriter and key's player passed through in August of last year. Being a new decade and all we thought we'd send Lawrence Gichigi to check up on Elsa and see what she's been up to over the holiday season...

Elsa! How have you been over Christmas and new year?
It's been pretty good. I've got quite a big family so for me the holiday season means trying to see them all. Everything musically stops for a couple weeks while I try to fit everybody in but it's nice to be back and hard at work.

Good good! I've listened to your songs and and I've gotta say your songwriting is off the chain! You've got some skills. Do you think that it's something that's inherit or something that people pick up along the way?
Aww thank you... I think it's different for everybody. I started writing when I was a kid and even have tapes of me when I was six years old writing little songs about the rain and my cuddly toys so for me it's always been the way I expressed myself.

You wrote songs about your cuddly toys?!
[Laughs] Yeah! I had a vivid imagination I guess. It's not very cool but once I reached my teens, I started going through 'love' issues and taking it more seriously. It's really through writing that I began singing. It was something that I had in my soul and badly wanted to do but didn't have the confidence. As I kept writing songs people would say "Elsa, you should sing... you've got a voice" and then eventually I got the confidence to start singing. For me the writing came first so it's really nice when people recognise the songwriting!

Of course! And you also play keys as we know. How often do you play in an average week? Umm... It's not regimented but I have a few keyboards in my house and I probably play every couple of days. Sometimes I might just sit and work on a song or have a jam by myself while I'm singing.

Cool. Let's say you didn't play keys, which instrument would you choose to master instead?
I think the obvious one for a songwriter is the guitar because you can do the necessary chords and you can play an acoustic set quite easily but aside from that I've always wanted to learn to play the harp! I've love the sound of it and it's somwhat related to the piano... so probably guitar or harp.

Interesting. We're gonna do the quick fire round now. Just give me your first answer.
Okay... [Laughs]

Lipstick or lipgloss?
Lipgloss!

Flats or heels?
Flats.

Fruit salad or jacket potato?
Jacket potato!

Facebook or Twitter?
Ummm......Twitter!

Prince or Michael?
Michael!

Cryps or Cordless?
Cordless... Oh wait!

[Laughs] That's it! Signed, sealed, delivered!
No no I don't want to upset anyone so I'll say both! I'm a lover of everything! [Laughs]

So how was it on the Cryps Sessions?
Cryps was great. It was a small production but it was nice and cosy. To be honest I'm always quite nerve racked when doing video shoots because it's something that's quite new to me but it was quite mellow and different from Cordless because it's all accoustic. I remember when I performed on Cordless it was summer and it was so hot that my fingers were slipping off the keyboard!

You say you're new to video shoots, but will we see a debut video from Elsa Chapman soon?
Yes! Right now my album is finished and just being mixed over the next week. When that's done, all the exciting things that go with it including videos, a website, and photoshoots will be happening. It's a really personal album and I feel that I've built it with my hands from the music to the artwork concepts. I just hope people dig it. I'm diggin' it so far! [Laughs] At least that's one person!

Is there a title for it yet?
There's no confirmed title or release date for the album yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Check out her Cordless Performance

Elsa Chapman on Myspace