Art Pop from Eleri Ward

Originally hailing from Chicago and now making an impact in New York, Eleri Ward has spent the last few years working in a space where indie folk, theatrical expression and experimentation coalesce in musical form. Her music begins with acoustic intimacy and shifts between restraint and scale while drawing on a wide-ranging set of influences. Caroline Polachek, Sufjan Stevens, Lianne La Havas and Andrew Bird all form part of her creative landscape, but her own work has increasingly become informed by a desire to transform sound into something altogether more immersive.

Her earliest recognition came through her reimaginings of Stephen Sondheim’s work, recordings which offered an early display of her technical ability and her ability for reinterpretation, taking familiar material and reshaping it into something new. Yet it was through her original songwriting that her artistic identity began to fully form and since releasing her debut single, “The Girl in the Backseat,” in 2020, Eleri has developed a body of work centred on emotional detail and sonic texture.

Critical acclaim from The New York Times, Forbes and American Theatre Magazine, alongside millions of streams, has positioned her as a rising name within the indie music space. Last year brought another major step with Internal Rituals, her debut full-length album, where twelve tracks explored reflection, growth and perspective through ethereal arrangements and vocal performances that could feel at once controlled and hypnotic. The title of that record now feels increasingly significant, as Eleri’ interest with ritual has continued beyond the album with her latest single, “BELIEVE IT AND IT’S TRUE,” now taking the idea somewhere more participatory.

Following March’s “Will I Be the Sun,” the new track revolves around repetition, affirmation and the transformative potential of belief, taking her songwriting towards what she describes as mantra music. Embedded within the song is the idea that repeated thoughts and behaviours can influence the subconscious and that beliefs can be consciously shaped towards self-love, abundance and personal growth. Music itself becomes a form of programming for Eleri, something capable of shining light on ideas through repetition until they move beyond the intellectual and become physical.

Wrapped up in a synth-focused art pop setting, the song jumps straight into a dreamy soundscape where pulsing synths and tapped percussion forms a subtly energising scene. As Eleri’s alluring voice glides in, she spins bright melodic leads above as the song floats into an intoxicating chorus where catchy vocal leads and sweeping backing vocalisations combine above the steady rhythmic drive to cast en enveloping listening experience that’s memorable, original and thought-provoking all at once.

Progressing through a stripped back bridge where repeated vocal chants and soaring lines combine, the song rolls into an energising finale where overlapping vocals and intricate instrumentation leaves a lasting impression. The accompanying visuals take the song’s concept further through EFT, or Emotional Freedom Techniques, tapping. As Eleri’s affirmations swell and chant, the visual guides viewers through a simple somatic practice, highlighting the idea that the track isn’t merely something to hear but something to truly experience in an entirely absorbing fashion.

In her latest release, belief sits at the centre of perception and repetition becomes the mechanism through which new possibilities can be imagined. Eleri Ward is no longer simply writing songs about ritual, she’s making songs that can become rituals themselves; small, repeatable acts of sound designed to turn attention inward and belief towards possibility.

Listen to BELIEVE IT AND IT’S TRUE below

More from Music

---

Editor Picks

---