Names: Eliza Noble and Jennifer Skillman aka Eli & Fur
Nationality: British
Occupation: DJs, producers, songwriters, vocalists
Current release: Eli & Fur's new album Dreamscapes is out via [PIAS] Électronique. Catch their new live show in London, NYC and LA, full tour dates here.
Recommendations: Eli: A book called A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I have never read anything that has had such a big impact on me.
Fur: Tim Walker - Pictures. I love the photos he takes and how surreal and dreamlike they are.

If you enjoyed this Eli & Fur interview and would like to know more about the duo and their music music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you are listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Eli: I think we both tend to focus on the feeling and the emotion. We love to be able to tell a story, but also it’s important for us that the listener can take it and make it their own.

Sometimes in the studio we will definitely close our eyes and lose ourselves. It depends on the feeling of the track, but I think it's important to appreciate music in the introspective, darker moments and celebration in the light. If that makes sense.

Entering/creating new worlds through music has always exerted a strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

Fur: I definitely am more listening to the melody than the lyrics, whereas I think Eli is the opposite, she focuses on words more, it's like melodic movement versus poetry. When those things complement each other, it is pure magic and we always strive for that together.

It’s funny how different people latch onto different parts sonically. When we create music, we really do get lost in it. It’s almost like a form of meditation, like time stops.

Sometimes we’ll get so wrapped up in the music, hours will go by and we won’t even notice.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Fur: We both listened to quite different music growing up. I listened to more 80s synthpop. I definitely think we both go back to music we were listening to around those ages, we both love being able to listen back to old songs and remember exactly how we were feeling the first time we heard it.

Eli: I was a lot more interested in live elements of music, singer songwriter stuff, folk bands, some more emo alternative teenage angst stuff, But it was always rooted in emotion. All that music still has a huge effect on me.

Tell me about one or two of your early pieces that you’re still proud of (or satisfied with) – and why you are content with them.

Eli: 'You’re So High' was the second song we made together. And it still doesn’t feel like it’s that old!



It will always be a very special one to both of us. We wrote it very quickly and it felt very instant.

Fur: We also love 'Nightblooming Jasmine', it feels very true to our sound and the music we love to make.



What is your current studio or workspace like? What instruments, tools, equipment, and space do you need to make music?

Eli: We use a lot of plugins, serum, diva and Arturia re-creations of some of the class analog synths.

Then in terms of synths we have Prophet 6, Korg Wavestate, Micro Korg, TR8 drum machine, guitars, bass, pedals, Ableton push and more!

[Read our feature on the Prophet 6]

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, tell me about the creative process for your album, please.

Fur: It all depends on the song, some songs happen quicker than others, some sit on the shelf for months. Sometimes it’s hard to create the initial magic that happened in the very beginning. We try not to stray too far away from the original ideas we fall in love with. Saying “it’s finished” has always been the hardest part for me, thankfully Eli is brilliant at that.

All the ideas from our new album Dreamscapes started very authentically in moments of inspiration, maybe a hotel room, or sat down with a guitar. Then we took all our favourite ideas into the studio to finish them with a vision for the album sonically.

What role and importance do rituals have for you, both as an artist and a listener?

Eli: We think rituals are very important, especially when it comes to being creative. To have a secondary creative outlet is very important for when you get stuck on the music.

A ritual we stick to whenever we get stuck is going back to the drawing board and starting again. To know that it’s OK to step away from things if it’s not working.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you could do or wouldn’t in your daily life? If so, which are these?

Fur: I don’t think so, I think a lot of the music we make is very true to who we are. It doesn't feel over thought or over analysed.

Most of our tracks will start with a vocal that's just come to us over some chords, or getting lost in a groove. It feels more subconscious in that way.

Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility [...] to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What is your take on that? 

Eli: We totally agree with this, there’s nothing worse than as an artist having to fit into a box.

It’s all about being creative and seeing what happens whatever the outcome may be.


Eli & Fur Interview Image by SJ Spreng

Do you feel that your music or your work as an artist needs to have a societal purpose or a responsibility to anyone but yourself?

Fur: This is a very interesting question. If you are lucky enough to make music that is totally true to yourself AND it connects on a scale that gives you a career out of it, then that's amazing. But at the point where it doesn't then that's more of a hobby or an outlet for only yourself, which is also great if that's all you are striving for.

For us, we want to be creative but also have a career in music. This sometimes means compromising in small ways. There is something really magical about the listener being able to apply their story and feelings to the music you make so that it can tell a hundred different stories to different listeners.

For that reason we do always consider the listeners when choosing which songs we want to put out in the world, we like to write about our own experiences to the point where people connect.

Once a piece is done and released, do you find it important that listeners understand it in a specific way? How do you deal with “misunderstandings?”

Eli: We like to let the listener interpret our music in whatever way they like.

Often the lyrics are dreamy and more obscure. We don’t feel precious about what it has to mean, just as long as the work is inspiring.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you’ve had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

Fur: There are so many beautiful sounds in nature. They are definitely musical in many ways, or even they bring more magic to the music.

One of our tracks ‘Oceanside’ finishes with a voice note over the top of the outro from when we were sitting on the beach watching the sunrise. It was the moment of inspiration for that track, you can hear the waves and the seagulls and it just makes the musical part of the track something else. Takes it to another dimension.



Eli: We also absolutely love to make sounds out of anything, the more random the sound usually the better it is. Sometimes we’ll be in the kitchen recording the washing machine or turning vocals into synths.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Eli: A balance of both, sometimes being in a totally silent room can be so incredibly calming, the world is so loud and sometimes hearing nothing can be an interesting reset.

I often listen to music while traveling but then i'll just listen to the sounds around me, the airport, the street. A balance of all these things I think is good for staying inspired.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more mundane; tasks?

Fur: Music is more subconscious. So it’s therapeutic in a way that you can lose yourself, let out emotions that perhaps you can’t put into words. It’s a lot more stream of consciousness.

When you sit down to write something you never know what’s going to come from it. That not knowing as well as expressing emotion you may not have been aware of is very freeing and not like anything else.

What is a music related question that you would like to ask yourself – and what is your answer to it?

Eli: Probably what are important practices to stay inspired and the answer would be to make sure you set aside time to be inspired; in the past there have been times where we haven’t given ourselves space outside of working and touring constantly.

I think it’s important to take breaks, especially from things that can drive you crazy like social media. To shut off for a few days and rest your mind. If you don’t take time to do that you can risk getting to a point where you aren’t loving what you do anymore and that’s the biggest killer of inspiration.