Elsa Hewitt: Lynsey de Paul Prize Winner 2016
Elsa Hewitt is a songwriter and producer from Lewes, in East Sussex. Her songs fuse the good, the bad and the ugly: deadpan delivery and dense thickets of prose; melodic, meticulous and moody beats, and strongly emotional compositions. With over 10 albums to her name, Hewitt has written more than most can claim for an entire lifetime. Yet, at 25, there appears to be no curb to her creativity, as she plans her most productive year to date.
Hewitt started playing guitar and writing songs aged 13 and simultaneously began home-recording her own albums with a four-track cassette recorder. During her teenage years, she formed Prince Harry, a band whose recognition in the Brighton music scene enabled her to broaden her creative scope to live arrangements and electronics. In 2013, Hewitt released her first solo electronic album, Hotel Rosemary; an album of textural ambience, silky synthesizers and dulcet heartbreak. Since then she has continued to delve deeper into the realms of electronics and found sounds that have become very distinctive and intriguing features of her recent work.
But despite her wide-eyed eagerness for sonic experimentation, the heart of Hewitt’s songs often lie in their words. Her lyrics fixate on the social experience of being human: from the cosmic to the mundane. In each and every line, Hewitt presents a unique perspective on the strange behavior of people. No thought is too slight, no confession too private. Topics range from the architecture of dreams, to the nostalgic smell of a shampoo, to catching glimpses of your reflection in car windows.