Name: Ello Sun
Nationality: British
Occupation: Bassist, songwriter, vocalist
Current release: Ello Sun's self-titled debut solo EP is out via Tip Top.
Topic that I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I am actually obsessed with traditional medicine, biomedicine, nutrition, herbs, plants, natural healing etc! It’s my side career.
It actually clashes a bit with music, but I like the duality. I feel a lot like jumping from one personality to another. My friends from the music industry aren’t really interested in health, and my friends in the health industry know fuck all about music! They probably think I am a wedding band pop singer, or something.  

If you enjoyed this Ello Sun interview and would like to know more about her music, visit her on Instagram.



For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I don’t really have plans or specific ideas. I mostly sit down with my bass or synth and start jamming ideas, riffs. When something interesting comes out, I record it and then start layering other ideas and instruments. Then I record some vocal ideas.

It is usually a pretty quick and rather messy process to be honest. I will write a song in about three to four hours, then sleep on it, and the next day I will try to organise it on Garageband.

I go through phases. I am busy with my full time job and studies, (I currently study traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and naturopathy). So usually, when I have more time, I go through a writing phase, which lasts around a week, where I get on with it everyday.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I’m trying to think about what music would be without any of those …

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

When I wrote the EP I was living in a shared home in Hackney, so everything happened in my bedroom. I'd just move my books out of my desk and grab a bass, laptop, sound card. After a few hours it’s total chaos with cables running in all directions and me bouncing from one instrument to another.

I now live with my partner in a little flat in Leyton. He is a musician and we have a lovely home studio that is super organised with lots of fancy gear. I haven’t touched it yet, it’s kinda scary.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I definitely have to be healthy or my brain collapses and I get too emotional. A good breakfast, lots of green tea, matcha, herbal teas. Daylight is important (I’m usually in bed by 9pm, huh!).

Reading poetry is great, especially before writing lyrics. Reading in general.

For your latest release, what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they?

‘River’ is the first song I wrote when I got a cello and seriously started crafting this project. It’s funny that it’s the first song on the EP. I hadn’t planned much.

I recently found a recording on my phone of the first time I jammed to this song. I looped a cello line, bass line, synth and added some drums on the laptop and sang over it. It’s fairly similar!

Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

After my little writing sessions and recording a demo, I then present it to the band and they all learn their parts and we try to play it live. Most of the time, it works!

And then comes Lucas, who produced the EP and co-wrote ‘Sun Is Poking Out’. He is far more organised than me and brings that skill to my creativity. We restructure a lot of things together, improve parts - he challenges me a lot!

I was going to give up on ‘The Sun Is Poking Out’ as the song I originally wrote didn’t work when we recorded it. But Lucas saved it! We took so long in the studio to rewrite it and come up with new parts, harmonies etc. Honestly, he is the best thing that happened to Ello Sun.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Goh I hate when lyrics are too obvious, I always get shy about it. It has to be mysterious, only because I don’t fully want people to know what I’m saying, so it’s up to your own interpretation.

I know what I mean every time, and each song has a story, but it should resonate with your own experience and life. We are all so different, right?  

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I don’t think I have any control on anything.

I don’t know about you, but I think I can hear it if someone wrote a song following rules and narrative … I am averse to control.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Yes, that's so true! I’m still figuring this out.

The EP just came out and I have had mixed emotions. Mainly nostalgic, when I look back at the whole process.

But I have about 15 other songs which I wrote in the meantime, ready to be recorded, so I don’t feel too empty! Just waiting to get back into recording, the writing will always happen.