LOS ANGELES, CA – Walking into the Hammer Museum on Thursday night (7/20/17), I wasn’t very familiar with Elohim and her music. I’ve listened to a few of her tracks on Apple Music and read a few articles about her rising popularity, but I was walking into the show with fundamentally, a clean slate and an open mind. Little did I know I’d leave an avid supporter.
Elohim is an electronic/pop artist based in Los Angeles that guarantees to grab your attention and not let go. She is the entire package—singer, songwriter, musician, producer all with a unique and captivating vision for her music. Her live show demonstrates her musical ability to connect with fans on a deeper level.
Kicking off the night was Brooklyn DJ and producer Suzi Analogue. Decked out in neon yellow, Suzi showed off her soulful R&B and downtempo hip-hop sound exclusively on hardware. She opened up her set with tracks from her beat-tape called ZONEZ V.1 of original tracks inspired by her past, including tracks like “Creation ArgumeNNt”, “Deep ConditioNN”, and “TTTouch” all based on the memories of her recently-passed mother. The energy she gave from her performance immediately had the crowd up and dancing away. The combination of downtempo hip-hop mixed with a bit of club, jazz, and ambient music, best describes the instrumentals off of the ZONEZ beat-tapes.
In an interview with Vice, she explains “the concept for ZONEZ is to create music using sounds that trigger not only auditory but visual senses. The sound is created by a woman, and each track has builds that essentially asks for the listeners to be a part of the build. It’s actually an audio mood board that’s the start of a bigger experience.”
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Elohim took the stage shortly after. As setup for Elohim’s performance began, you could feel the anticipation in the air. Music was playing during the intermission, lights were flashing, microphones were being tested and the crowd immediately had their cell phones out to snap pictures and record her as they anxiously waited for her to take the stage. After a few long minutes of waiting, the music faded, and the lights slowly dimmed. Wearing dark sunglasses and a long white hoodie with “XA AX” displayed on the front, the mysterious Elohim took the stage.
While performing, you can’t help but feel drawn in by her presence. She doesn’t speak, her hair is always draped down in front of her face, and the large LED screen endlessly flashing behind her makes it extremely problematic to catch a good glimpse of her which adds to the allure of her enigmatic ways. While I found her stage presence mesmerizing, I was more intrigued to learn that the name Elohim is actually a sacred name in Hebrew meaning God.
In an interview she did with Nylon.com, she gives a brief explanation as to why she chose Elohim as her artist persona, stating “As a woman, it is very empowering to call myself something so masculine, so strong. Elohim is an ancient word. It has held various meanings throughout history. To me it is love, acceptance, and confidence. It is strength in my art and in myself. It is beauty and spirituality.” Upon piecing this all together, my first thought was “Wow I can definitely get behind this.”
While all of that sounds deep and transcendent, her music is surprisingly fun and upbeat. As she played through her EP, nearly everyone in the crowd was dancing, singing and smiling. About midway through her performance of “Xanax”, a man behind me turns to his friend and enthusiastically says, “Man are you kidding me? Holy shit she’s good live!” It’s clear that her fans are dedicated. Many of which were wearing her merch, including surgical face masks that read “Hallucinating” and hoodies that said, “Silence is Cool.” I also noticed a few Anti Social Social Club sweatshirts in the crowd, which seem to fit perfectly with the tone of her music.
The show was compact, but she had brilliant timing, smooth transitions between songs, and overall, the experience was satisfying and rejuvenating. I would highly recommend anyone of any age to go see Elohim if you get the chance. She did not disappoint her fans and gave an entertaining and fun filled performance.
She closed out her performance with her hit single “Hallucinating” which was definitely the crowd favorite. Filled with trumpets and violin players on stage, the song looks and feels like a celebration. Watching the crowd jump around senselessly with their hands in the air was fun. There was no better way to close out her performance and she sent the crowd home completely satisfied. Although she never spoke a word on stage, the number of hugs she gave to fans at the end of the show made it clear that she was grateful for all their support.
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