English musician (born 1999)
Elizabeth Jane Esau ( ; born November 1999) is an English musician who began gigging and releasing music in 2020, usually in the indie rock or alternative rock genres. The daughter of Tim Esau of the band IQ, she has opened for Baby Queen, Beabadoobee, the Amazons, Upsahl, and Swim School. Her releases include "Bitter Weather", which went viral on TikTok, a cover version of the Yardbirds's version of "I'm a Man" recorded for the soundtrack of "My Lady Jane", and the EPs "Perspectives", "Deepest Blue", "Spilling Out The Truth". In addition, she is the subject of an article in "The Courier" that was shortlisted for Best Arts and Culture Piece at the 2023 Student Publication Association National Awards.
Life and career.
1999–2022: Early life and "Perspectives".
Elizabeth Jane Esau ( ) was born in November 1999 in London but grew up in Ryton, Tyne and Wear. Her mother is an artist and her father is Tim Esau, a member of IQ. She began writing poems aged five before diversifying into plays and studied architecture at Newcastle University. She began uploading content to SoundCloud in the late 2010s and started playing open mic nights in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. She played a socially distanced gig at Tyne Bank Brewery in September 2020.
Her first single, "Young Minds Run Blind", was released in November 2020 and written about her experiences of youth, while her second, "Haven't You Heard", was released in 2021, having taken several years to complete. That June, she released "What If I Just Kept Driving", a lo-fi bedroom pop track about using mundane tasks as coping mechanisms. She followed with her fourth single "Caffeine", an indie rock track about justifying decisions, and the alt-pop and hip-hop blend "Bitter Weather", which she wrote around the same time as "Caffeine" and about prioritising important things. "Bitter Weather" appeared on her 2022 EP "Perspectives" and went viral on TikTok. In early 2022, she released "Shade of Green", which she followed in May with "The Enemy", a track about feeling like an outcast.
2022–2023: "Deepest Blue".
By the end of that month, she had appeared on Spotify's "Fresh Finds" playlist and had performed at Newcastle's "A Stone's Throw" festival and BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. In August 2022, she performed at Newcastle's "Live At Central" beer garden, from which Finlay Holden of "Clash" opined that "Bitter Weather" and "The Enemy" were highlights. The following month, she released "Bleak Sublime", a track about an inability to replicate drunk euphoria while sober. In October 2022, Esau played "Left of the Dial" Festival in Rotterdam and Live at Leeds. The month after, she released "Stay on the Phone", an acoustic track about the various safety measures women take to preserve their safety while walking home at night and living in cities and about victimisation of abuse survivors. By the end of that year, she had supported Baby Queen, Beabadoobee, The Amazons, and Upsahl on tour.
In January 2023, she released "Jellyfish", a track about being easy to influence, and began co-headlining a tour with George O'Hanlon. In March 2023, an article about Esau published in "The Courier" was shortlisted for Best Arts and Culture Piece at the Student Publication Association National Awards. After signing to LAB Records, she released "Killer" in April, a track about her inner critic. In June, she provided backing vocals on Chloe and the Brainwaves's "Expensive Things", which she followed the month after with "Lazy Brain" and the EP "Deepest Blue" in July 2023, which featured "Roadkill". She then played a gig at The Louisiana in Bristol, with the bands Clemencie and Wynona supporting.
2024–present: "Spilling Out the Truth".
In January 2024, she released "Impossible + Strange" on Yin Yang Media UK, an indie rock track about being made mentally ill by anticipation. She then played a gig at The Poetry Club in Glasgow as well as at Stockton Calling. In April, she released "Wait Too Late", a track about the environment she had previously opened several concerts with and had written around the time the Amazon rainforest was suffering from fires. She recorded the track at Somerton Castle, having aborted two previous attempts at recording the track as she felt unable to replicate her live sound in a studio. She then supported Swim School on their Seeing It Now tour and played a set at Dot to Dot Festival.
In June 2024, Esau released "Cool", which discussed impostor syndrome. Later that month, she contributed a cover version of The Yardbirds's version of Bo Diddley's 1955 song "I'm a Man" to the soundtrack of "My Lady Jane", a series about the 1553 Queen Lady Jane Grey. The song was one of nine cover versions on its soundtrack and had been specially commissioned for the series as its showrunners Gemma Burgess and Meredith Glynn were fans of bands of the British Invasion. Esau also played Glastonbury Festival that month, headlining the BBC Introducing stage. That October, she and the rock band Torus supported South Arcade on tour and released the EP "Spilling Out the Truth", which took its name from how open its lyrics were. "Spilling Out the Truth" contained "She's a Scorpio", a track mostly written several years earlier and about her experiences of being gaslighted during a teenage relationship.
Artistry.
Esau's early works were inspired by Imogen Heap, while "Haven't You Heard" was inspired by Heap and by Phoebe Bridgers' "Kyoto". She cited Heap and Dave as influences in November 2020. "Bitter Weather"'s verses were inspired by Clairo, Loyle Carner, and Tom Misch, while its choruses were inspired by Wolf Alice and Royal Blood. "Bleak Sublime" was inspired by the murder of Sarah Everard and the activist speeches she heard while she was at university, while "Wait Too Late" was inspired by The Stone Roses's "Fools Gold". She cited Wolf Alice, Nothing but Thieves, Holly Humberstone, Beabadoobee, and Little Simz as influences in September 2021 and Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, and Radiohead in January 2023, although by May 2024 she was citing Wolf Alice, Foals, The Killers, Kings of Leon, and Florence and the Machine. The month after, she wrote that several of her songs were inspired by Mazzy Star's "Fade into You", Pixies's "Debaser", and Wolf Alice's "Beautifully Unconventional". Michael O'Neill of "Narc" wrote in June 2021 that her works traversed "piano ballads, spoken word, indie pop, and R&amp;B", while her music was described as "alternative rock" by Graeme Smith of "York Calling" in April 2023 and by Kieran Rogers of "Clout" in January 2024.
References.
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