Meg Elsier
Every major city needs an it girl. London has Charli XCX, New York has Julia Fox and Los Angeles has, well, too many to count. The entire Midwest can claim Chappell Roan now, so it’s high time Nashville has a trendsetter of its very own. For your consideration, allow me to introduce singer-songwriter Meg Elsier.
When her debut album Spittake came out June 28, she celebrated the way any star would: by having a wisdom tooth removed and lunching at Chili’s. Elsier’s effortlessly cool aura belies the vividly confessional nature of her music, but juxtaposition and paradox are par for the course in her work. The record’s title and its namesake track play off two forces at work when someone spits out their drink to laugh.
“[The concept] just seems comical and violent, slightly, which I liked,” Elsier says. “Like, there’s something dark about a spit take.”
In rich detail, the song describes the cruel comedy of feeling that your purpose in life is to amuse a deity. “God does a spit take, baby,” Elsier sings, “He says I was the joke all along.” She says the line was inspired by a separate song idea that never came to fruition.
“It was humanizing these religious figures,” she explains. “I think they’re self-conscious, and I think they’re actually mean sometimes. I just wanted to play with the superhuman aspects. I just liked the idea of being, like, a universal joke — and I’m the only one who doesn’t know it, and everybody else does.”
Despite the ironic subject matter, Elsier’s lyrics are no joke. The record tackles virtually every pain of the average 20-something: miscommunication in relationship, disillusionment, getting overwhelmed by the news, and in Elsier’s own words, “Catholic guilt.” Sonically, Spittake is as methodical as it is manic, switching at the drop of a hat between dreamy indie-pop slow-jam vibes and frenzied guitars and screaming. It’s messy the way life is when you’ve got the guts to be honest about it, an art difficult to master. No comparison seems fair — one line will bring to mind Phoebe Bridgers, and the next St. Vincent. It’s the kind of record you’d expect from a modern-day musical titan like Mitski deep into their career, rather than a debut artist.
Community is necessary for any musician, but especially so for an independent newcomer. Elsier says Spittake and its visuals — including music videos for singles like “LA,” which was filmed at the historic Palace theater in Gallatin, and “Iznotreal,” which cuts back and forth between Elsier alone in foreboding sets and floating amid a sea of faces — could not have happened without Nashville’s supportive artist community.
Meg Elsier
“For artists, Turnip Green is the most incredible,” she notes. “Like, if I could fight for anyone, it would be Turnip Green. It really is a community effort in order for an independent artist to do anything like that — which is upsetting, but also it’s really, really beautiful. I think everybody becomes, like, more proud of it, because everybody had 37 jobs. So you’re invested, and it’s lovely. But they’re the only reason we could have made any of the props.”
Elsier’s Music City community will show out once again for a Spittake release celebration at DIY venue Soft Junk on Thursday. The supporting lineup includes Baby Wave, Razor Braids and a DJ set from Elsier’s “fellow Meg,” To-Go Records co-founder and The Blue Room talent buyer Megan Loveless.
“I’m just so stoked — it’s just gonna be a celebration of really solid music and art in community,” Elsier says. “I just want to throw a rager for people, because people helped make everything that I’ve done. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the community that is here. So I just want to throw something fun.”
Like any good it girl, Elsier has curated the perfect vibe for her release party. Artist Sarah Goldstein put together a flyer that perfectly captures the flavor of an early-2000s church spaghetti potluck; the table is set for — as one says in fashionable circles — this party to “eat.” Crucially, Elsier chose openers she thinks the audience will want to know better.
“We have incredible bands, like Razor Braids from New York. I met them through my friend and manager MC … I love their music, and we became friends on Instagram. This bill is just people that I really want to play with. I’ve seen Baby Wave play The Blue Room so many times. [Their set is] one where it’s like, if you’re smoking outside, you run in for it.”
