Elizaveta Ephemeris

Live Performance in Tokyo!

Hey! Happy New Year!

2016 took off at a run. There are a lot of changes and developments happening, one of which is me closing this blog down as separate site and transitioning it to be part of elizaveta.com, as it should have been for a while.

You must be asking: what happened, Elly? Did you go to Japan? Did you have a birthday? Did you have a good Christmas? 

Well, kind of yes to all of those and more. I have also moved. At the moment I am strictly nomadic, without a permanent address. Right now I am in Los Angeles. Prior to this it was Spain and Moscow. This Wednesday I am flying to Shanghai, where I will perform my song Odi et Amo in Chinese! After that I'll be briefly back stateside, but then going to Tokyo for all of February!

I am learning Japanese and it's been wonderful, plus I am still putting finishing touches on my Japanese language album, which will be released in May. So I'm off to Tokyo to take a language course, as well as explore it more, as I loved it the last time around. My love affair with Japan is in full bloom.

I have been writing and recording, don't worry! There is not only one, but TWO new Pegboard Nerds collaborations coming up this spring. I wrote and recorded two brand new duets. Two of my songs are about to be featured in movies out next month.

I am also joining Patreon, so if you are reading this blog, keep an eye out for that special link. The Patreon membership will allow me to provide new music and other content monthly, as I move around the globe and record in different languages.

I also performed at TED Global 2015 in December, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a wonderful experience. You can read a small write-up on it HERE.

We also shot a music video for the Japanese version of 'Hero', in collaboration with incredible floral artist Flower Couture (photo above is from my performance in Tokyo for Autodesk gallery opening, where she styled me). I can't wait to share all of that with you!

There is a lot more, but I have to go back to working and nursing my cold. I know I promised many times I'd be better about blogging and I guess I lied. I can just imagine my father reading this and shaking his head at his daughter's inconsistent behavior.

But hey! 2015 was a strange year and 2016 feels like the waves just got bigger. But I also feel like I am a much better surfer, so there. I am feeling creative and adventurous and this blog will not die, it will just resume a new life where it was always supposed to be - at my official site!

Stay tuned for the waves, my friends. And be assured that my absence here was not from hiding in a proverbial cave somewhere, it was just from being so ridiculously busy that I now know I need to organize myself 3,000 better. This spring is partially about that. I feel like I am about to take things to the next phase in more ways than one. Are you with me? I hope so:)

New Life, here I come

Sometimes new beginnings hide themselves in endings and vice versa.

I am going through something big, and I can feel it in my heart, my stomach, my toes, as well as my fingertips.

It's true that wherever you go, there you are. But sometimes you can leap and leave yourself behind for a split second.

I am not even sure what I mean here.

But I will be performing a concert in a couple of weeks. And I will sing the new me. After that I'll be going to Japan.

Dragon Age world, hello again!

I sang on another batch of songs for Dragon Age, this time for a release called Dragon Age - Trespasser.

Here is one of these songs, it's completely acoustic and full of all sorts of details about the world itself.

 

Icarus

I have met so many incredible, creative and talented people over the past couple of years.

One of these is Christina Yee, who I had the honor of meeting last year at a very special curated event called Hatch.

Christina is a filmmaker, a passionate, warm and lovely human being. I fell in love with the short animated film she screened at the event. The film was 'Miss Todd', and it had won a slew of awards, including a student Academy Award.

The movie was inspired by a real person - specifically, Lilian Todd - the first woman who designed an airplane.

As I was about to release my new album 'Messenger', I was struck by how one of the songs on the record resonated with the film's subject matter - and I approached Christina with an idea to take the footage of the film and make a music video. We agreed that the melancholy, but uplifting nature of the song would give new meaning to the film's story. 

The video was edited by Camille Penalver.

To find out more about the makers of the film, watch the full length version, as well as read about the painstaking process of making it, check out this site: http://www.misstoddfilm.com

 

 

Trap (music video)

Here is a new music video, shot and directed by my art director and partner in crime Missy Washingon,  aka i102fly.

It also features a good friend, an amazing guitar maker and artisan James Trussart, looking and acting mysterious. 

See if you can recognize a few of the symbols in this video and what they mean. This is arguably the darkest song/video of mine to date. In the next entry I'll disclose what this song means to me (hint: it's not about love - or at least, not about romantic love).

 

This song was also featured in a major Russian motion picture 'Ghost'. We will post a video with footage from the film, as well, sometime soon. 

The song was co-written with my lovely collaborator Jonathan Paulsen.

Trap (lyrics)

Trap

 

If you could only see

I couldn’t love you more

If you belong to me

I’ll hold you

I’ll keep you

 

But I get so hypnotized

I’m lost

I’m paralyzed

I want to hear your lies

You choke me

You bleed me

 

I want to die

When I feel you inside my mind

 

Hearts weren’t meant to last

Breathing the broken glass           

Tell me it’s going to pass

You’ll need me

You’ll heal me

 

I want to die

When I feel you inside my mind

 

If I loved you more than life

Wouldn’t matter if you died

I’ll follow you

I’ll carry you

I’ll try to make it beautiful again

Without the lies, without the pain

Cause in my heart, I know we’ll reunite

 

I want to die

When I feel you inside my mind

I want to cry

Cause I know I’ve run out of time

 

These moments in time I knew you were mine

Take me, forgive me

Love me, believe me

It drives me insane

I know - it's only a game

Take me, forgive me

Love me, believe me

This is a trap and I know it will kill me.

 

Here we go (almost)

I know, it's so like me - to post a cliffhanger and then leave this blog empty and echoing.

But I was busy! (excuses, excuses).

And so here are some dates and goodies:

As you can see above, this is the cover for my upcoming album 'Messenger'. The single 'Trap' will go live on iTunes worldwide June 1st, and the entire album will be available for pre-order. Oh yes, and a really awesome remix of 'Trap' will be available, too. The full album will go live June 29, 2015.

Track list has been updated, and here it is:

1. Trap

2. Messenger (feat. Great Caesar)

3. Familiar

4. Time of Your Life

5. Icarus

6. Satellite

7. These Stupid Games

8. Bella Anima

9. Space Pirate's Love Song

10. Trap (J Paul Mix)

This is very much my album, in the sense that it's multi genre and yet, I am hoping, there is a thread running through it. It sits somewhere in between Beatrix Runs and Hero in scope. I'll do some detailed entries on the songs and their stories later (yes, I will - pinky swear!)

This album, unlike Hero and more like Beatrix Runs, has a number of pure acoustic moments - but also gets its share of majestic and choral. Generally speaking, it's quite organic and has a lot of piano in it. More than half the tracks - or at least their foundations were recorded live, as in: me, playing piano and singing at the same time.

That brings me to THE TOUR: Look at the right hand column and you will find my tour dates for this summer, or some of them (since we are adding more soon). I'll be performing in New York, Moscow, London, L.A. & San Francisco over the course of two months, so make sure you come and partake, if you are in the area.

 

What else? I will be the voice of the Tavern Bard for Dragon Age again this year, so that's fun:)

OK, I am off to do more work. 

PS: the source image for the cover is by a wonderful artist I discovered recently, whose name is Eugenia Loli. Google her and partake of her work because she is remarkable - and this cover will get a blog entry all its very own quite soon.

My album is done!!!!!

And here's a late night poem. I'll write more later with all the details.

 

 

 

A time to write, my cup is full, 
I hug the night, I call its bluff -
you cannot hide, my other half, 
I hear you call; I've set my sail.

From dusk till dawn where lovers live
where stardust gathers at the crack
between what's lost and what we give
I'll find you there - I'll bring you back

 

A time to write, the moon is high
it sings and whispers me to sleep
I'm dreaming as I slip away
while streetlights sway and shadows creep

I'm full of hope, I'm blessed by words
tomorrow is a gift to claim
Just wait for me, my other half:
I hear you call; I've set my sail.

More dragon love:)

I've had a busy few weeks. The album is almost ready, it's being mixed, actually. Mixing is always so emotional and drives me crazy. All the weaknesses of the tracks become obvious, and sometimes you know exactly what needs to be done, while other times you are lost and are searching for the words in the dark, which must seriously frustrate my mixing engineer.

As I may have mentioned earlier, I sang a bunch of songs for Dragon Age Inqusition, which is a pretty cool role-playing video game. The songs were not part of the official soundtrack, but the fans of the game loved them so much, they kept asking the developers to release them separately. Lo and behold, Bioware, the game's developer gave in after a few months of the enthusiasm and is now releasing an official album:) There are ten songs. By the way, they just announced today that they are giving them away for free together with sheet music for two weeks, and also holding a fan contest. Get them HERE.

In the meantime, I filmed and recorded a couple of the songs I sang in-game, for your pleasure. The music and lyrics are by a good friend of mine, a very talented composer Raney Schockne:

Enchanter

 

And here is a song about a cheeky girl-warrior:

 

I had a fantastic show a week ago, here are a couple of pics: