Eliksir was initiated by songwriter and vocalist Elin Synnøve Bråthen in 2003. Project name "Eliksir" originates from Elin's mispronunciation of her name as a child. She called herself "Elik" and referred to herself in the third person. "Elik says" thus became "Elik sir" in her northern Norwegian accent. Eliksir taken as "elixir" (magic potion) also fits to describe the music. Her versatile background with different music styles is given a distinct voice through songwriting for Eliksir. Elin comes from the Arctic north of Norway, growing up in a big family on a small farm surrounded by wildlife. Always burningly excited about music she played several instruments in her youth (trumpet and classical piano). She also sang with different choirs and ensembles, and was constantly given more and more challenging solo parts. Due to a change in her life Elin decided to focus on writing songs and singing. She moved to the south of Norway to study music at the University of Agder. There she invited into the concept a handful of talented male musicians with whom she studied, and started developing the material in collaboration with them. Upon recording 5 tracks for an EP in 2004 they connected with producer Øystein Sevåg. He embarked on the Eliksir-project with enthusiasm and soon realized that the material would turn into a full length album, not just an EP. Throughout 2005 and 2006 Eliksir gave concerts and Elin wrote more songs, concurrently recording bits and pieces at Musikkloftet Studio in Oslo. The first album "Earthly Things" was released in 2007 on the producer's label "Siddhartha Records". The album has received remarkable and unexpected appraisal from abroad, especially the UK and Ireland. Eliksir video "Fairytale" (directed by Harald Sandø, edited at Glamfish Productions) was aired on SKY Cuetracks for 3 months after winning the Exposure Music Awards 2008. During the last year Elin has worked on a number of new songs - polishing her songsmith qualities and dreaming dreams for lyric-writing. The next Eliksir album is now in the making. Planned release is August 2009.
Influences
Eliksir is mainly within the pop genre, but mixes into the music flavours of world (especially Celtic) and jazz. Songwriter and vocalist Elin Synnøve Bråthen has had some great inspirations through the years, artists like Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Sting and Loreena McKennitt have all had an impact. The list of inspirations is long and also includes artists like ABBA, Supertramp, Beatles, A-HA, Bel Canto, Yellowjackets, Jethro Tull, Renaissance, Rush, Mary Black, Claude Debussy, Keane, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band and a lot more...
Bookings
elin@eliksir.org
