Old Man of the Woods
2020-Present
Music Production / Audio-Visual Production / Product Design / Branding / Promotion / Project Management"Each pop nugget is like a different landscape painting, textural and intriguing, with deeper meaning hidden behind the lush, beguiling surfaces" - Foxy Digitalis
Old Man of the Woods is my solo synth pop project. I've independently written, recorded, produced, and released two albums - Dissolve in 2020 and Votives in 2021. I designed the art surrounding both the digital and physical releases - the album and single art, vinyl and cassette packaging, and promotional content. I put extreme care into building each album's distinct world and a unified project brand, sonically and visually.
Writing is my primary form of processing, so I’d been secretly hoarding songs for nearly a decade before going full monk mode on music production YouTube and finally learning to make the sounds I heard in my mind. As a nod to that creative alchemy of shit into sustenance, I named the project after a mushroom that survives by the same creed.
From self-releasing Dissolve, I quickly learned that building a world and emitting it into the ether is only the first chapter, listeners need to be invited in. Thankfully relentlessly pitching to blogs, playlists, and radio stations landed me a feature in UK-based blog Various Small Flames, who wrote that Dissolve “blurs the line between the personal and the natural world, conjuring a vivid and sometimes eerie soundscape as damp and rich as the woodland floor”, catching the attention of NY-based label Totally Real Records. We began working together on re-releasing Dissolve on cassette and eventually Votives on vinyl and cassette. Life blossomed - I was featured in numerous blogs, appeared in interviews and podcasts, collaborated with artists on remixes and music videos, and thrived at the opportunity to explore and express via endless mediums under the umbrella of the project, even creating mushroom molds as merch in my digital fabrication class at grad school (yes - I’d been working full-time throughout this narrative and moved across the country to additionally start the UW HCDE MS program part-time precisely as Votives was released in October 2021 - I am a masochist).
In late 2022, I began playing live shows. Never content to coast, I was determined to learn video synthesis to transform my concerts into audio-visual experiences, and I now play the roles of live music producer and live visual producer as a solo performer. I've performed across Washington, Oregon, New York, and Berlin, where I was an artist in residence at Culterim Gallery's Biesenthal month-long multi-disciplinary residency program in September 2023.
I'm constantly iterating and evolving, currently working on finishing a new album, booking shows, developing my performance chops, experimenting with novel immersive audio-visual experiences, and collaborating on a new dark wave music project, The Stalk. It’s been fascinating building out a fresh yet parallel brand, experimenting with generative AI graphics, and managing logistics, booking, and release strategies for our duo as well as myself.
Various highlights are outlined below, enjoy ~
Product design
Press
"A pleasant, dreamy synth-pop journey with delicate harmonies that feel like they’re striking the listener from all angles" - Stereogum
"A myriad of musical ideas, beautifully married together, votives is an album of rare experimentation and a comforting place to ponder the disorientation of life" - Secret Meeting
"Down-tempo pop splendour that slowly unfurls with repeated listens" - Sun-13
"One second the record feels engulfed in a deep nebulous fog of doubt,the next it is a sunbeam breaking through, shining a light on what is it to be human, in love, out of love and very much willing to learn how to cope with both" - For the Rabbits
"Develops the style introduced on dissolve, pushing beyond the natural world and into that of dreams, thereby inviting us further into elliott's distinctive imagination" - Various Small Flames
"Pop history, and especially its more electronic side, is very much Elliott's playground, and she conjures up the most diverse influences to create her sound collages" - Slim Chance
"Synth pop on the surface, but...delicately woven ballads, meant to be shared in secret" - Austin Town Hall
"As intimate as they are hidden" - Slumber Mag
"An inviting live wire that exudes cool and charm" - The Autumn Roses
"Atmospheric textures and rich soundscapes that mimic natural settings and phenomena" - Look At My Records
"A wild world" - Closed Captioned
"The last mile of the trek. The train slows down behind the rain. Watch as the entire countryside unfolds like a blanket and you try to smile." - Small Albums
Interviews: Various Small Flames, Sun-13
Music Video Collaboration
I collaborated on vision and narrative with Vancouver-based VFX artists and directors Roman Betanzos and Gabriel Güeiros.
Live Audio-Visual production
I modulate a Sleepy Circuits Hypno video synthesizer loaded with my own video footage and film clips via an Arturia MiniLab MIDI controller while performing. I can also connect it to my sampler to modulate certain parameters based on its audio output, which was why I was originally interested in it, but ironically I have more fun playing it like an instrument. I’ve also experimented with a Critter & Guitari EYESY video synthesizer and coding new Python visualizations for it, but they have more of a 90’s video game feel than my brand, although I have attempted layering projections from each video synthesizer and enjoy it in that context. However, I overall prefer synthesizing my own videos, primarily of nature, and retaining the eerily organic feel of my music, as I utilize field recordings in my tracks as well. I originally projected onto whatever screens were available at each venue, but I’ve grown more interested in projecting onto pre-fabricated surfaces and sets to create more unusual immersive experiences.
Generative AI graphics
To form a visual identity for The Stalk, we brainstormed and cataloged influences as a Pinterest board, forming the general themes: surreal, arachnid, mycelial, mysterious, occult, organic, drawing from the style of early horror films, tarot, and scientific illustrations.
I’ve now formulated prompts that fit within this aesthetic sensibility for generating assets with Dall-E.
I then experimented with other AI tools to create slight 3D motion within the graphics and generate reels promoting our first official show in November. I’ve begun modulating these graphics via the video synthesizers live as well to create a cohesive digital and physical brand experience.
I also often utilize Dall-E to make the base graphic for show posters.
