.png)
.JPG)
嶋田会希–Elle Shimada is a violinist, producer, curator, DJ and multi-instrumentalist from Tokyo based in Melbourne. A unique combination of thickly layered string lines making tender love to heavy new-jazz influenced beats creates an emotive, cinematic and other-worldly atmosphere while keeping the dance floor pulsing with visionary and edgy production, gaining a cult local following.
In collaboration with the CO-DREAMERS, Shimada fuses her band with a choir section, choreography, a kinetic succession of dance beats and abstract compositions to create an unforgettable live performance experience. (2023 RISING FESTIVAL, VIVID, SWSX, 2022 EU/USA, Bali)
With an undercurrent of feminism, cultural curiosity and a political mindset, Shimada utilises the uniting power of music to cultivate dance-floor-activism that is inclusive, honest and raw, creating progressive spaces beyond musicianship.
Aside from her original project, Shimada has collaborated with many artists in Melbourne and overseas – Performing/recording with Clever Austin and Paul Bender (Hiatus Kaiyote), Jace XL for Stamp the Wax compilation, recording features with Allysha Joy (3070 Collective) and Dufresne for World Wide fm./ Brownswood compilation album, playing with Mandarin Dreams supporting Giles Peterson and Lonnie Liston Smith, Close Counters, Aaron Chouli (Jazzy Sport Tokyo), Tash Sultana, Abbey Howlett , MAYA, Rara Zulu, Australian Art Orchestra
WOMADelaid, Strawberry Field Festival, Dark Mofo, Pleasure Garden, Rainbow Serpent, North America, Europe and Japanese tours to name a few.
OUT NOW via The Jazz Diaries (UK)
For Elle Shimada, the concept of home is ever-changing; it is the current which flows through her debut album, ‘Home ≠ Location’, released on Australian label The Jazz Diaries.
“Home is multiple, complex, shapeless. Home is in music, a space to share it with you,” the Tokyo-born, Melbourne-based artist sings on the album opener. Across eight dizzying tracks, ‘Home ≠ Location’ contains lean, skittish skeletal beats upon which Shimada’s shimmering falsetto climbs. Lithe and loose, marrying incisive political commentary with deep introspection, the album folds in blends of house, bass and candied keys to showcase why Shimada is one of Australia’s most exciting talents.
“After writing ‘Home ≠ Location’,” Shimada says, “I don’t feel that I need a location to call home anymore. Making this album was maybe really necessary for me.” ‘Home ≠ Location’ is cathartic, a lifetime of angst exhaled onto eight tracks. The lyrics revolve around themes of home, diaspora cultures and finding pleasure and escapism in a world intent on denying it. It is the result of several years of tinkering: spending time as a session musician on different influential Australian artists’ projects, Shimada has also been an active member of Melbourne’s thriving underground live music scene. “When lockdown came and all these thoughts entered my head, I just started recording my voice as a note on my phone to clear my mind,” she says. “Some of them became my lyrics. It was like an archive, a diary of where my mind has been.”
