Elissa Mielke is a world traveler by way of her modelling career – but an Ontario girl who grew up in the forest by her own admission.
The first single, Sleeping Alone did exactly what it was supposed to do in catching our attention and making us want to hear more… so after listening to track #1 half a dozen times we took the plunge and downloaded tracks 2, 3, and 4.
The collection of songs will be self-titled and along with Sleeping Alone includes Magnolia, Move On, and Vulture – and each of them pulled us further down the rabbit hole. The combination of a sweet voice + self-written lyrics that peek just deep enough makes you want to know more about this girl/artist/performer/writer.
Written in bits and pieces in Tokyo, London, New York, LA, and wherever else she was – Mieke has presented herself and her music through these first 4 tracks… and we’re certainly hoping there are more to come, sooner rather than later.
As she prepped to drop the EP to the world, Mieke was cool enough to answer some questions for us – thank you to her for that. And for giving us awesome answers! Check it out…
A. I grew up near Guelph in a place called Flamborough- it’s only an hour outside of Toronto and in between Guelph and Hamilton. I went to high school in Dundas which is part of Hamilton. My dad planted thousands of trees on this 20 acre plot of land and it grew to be a forest as my sister and I grew up. We played outside a lot and created little worlds in the forest, I loved writing songs out there. We weren’t out in the country in an extreme way because Hamilton was close, but we definitely drove 20 minutes to go to the store and stuff like that, and had chickens and rabbits and other farmlike things. We’d go canoeing into the wilderness a lot, my parents really valued that which I think is really cool.
Q. If you were building a playlist with your music included, what other artists would you put on the list?
A. Well lately I am really excited about all the great music coming out of my current hometown of Toronto! My friend Elliot Vincent Jones is putting out an album that I sang a teensy bit on and it’s suuuper danceable and great. Lobby has upcoming releases too, and they’re awesome. Ben Stevenson has new material that is gloriously powerful, and No Warning is apparently making a new album! Also I have Daniel Caesar’s last album on repeat often. It’s really beautiful. LA timpa is rumoured to be releasing something pretty awesome soon. Toronto is full of all this good music and I love it! Prince Innocence, Twist, Stacey, For Esme, so much more. I’d make a Toronto playlist for you!
A. When I came back to them months after recording them, I was floored by how the songs were full of predictions and little prophesies of what was to come next for me. Songwriting is really a spiritual thing for me- I really believe in intuition and also the importance of listening to your subconscious and trying to get in touch with that! I think these songs knew what I was hiding, and what I was afraid of, even before I knew it myself. I was excited about that. Maybe I’ll write more and they will teach me more things.
Q. Do you see your music and modelling careers continuing on a path together, or do you think you’ll have to make a choice soon?
A. I recently decided not to think of them as careers. I am just a human who has different ways of being creative and likes performing- so I’ll keep being creative and performing in different ways. Sometimes I’ll do more of one kind of performance, and at other times another. I think we’re in a time now where people aren’t defined by their careers, or at least they shouldn’t need to be. I will be me while doing those different things.
Q. Last one, tell us something about you that people aren’t easily going to find with a Google search
A. My first language was German. Swimming in a lake or ocean is my happy place, always. I love reading. I play the trombone really well. I have a herb garden that is flourishing. I used up all my money making this EP and it was worth it to me.
Huge thanks to Elissa for playing along with us today. The new EP is available right now – and we really can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking for new local Toronto music – or just new music in general.
Check out the stream of Sleeping Alone now and find Mieke online at these fine locations…
Website: miekemusic.com
Twitter: @elissamielke
Instagram: @elissamielke
YouTube: Elissa Mielke
EP Available Here: buymiekemusic.com
