Eli & Fur: the British duo redefining Electronic Music celebrates a Decade in Dance

Nothing is more captivating than witnessing vulnerability and empowerment converted into electronic music, where evocative vocals and melodies invite us to live a unique moment on the dance floor; that’s what Eli & Fur makes us feel.

The British dance duo gave thorough and thoughtful answers to us, demonstrating their commitment and love for the music that they curate and the ethereal chemistry that oozes while performing in the most incredible venues around the globe like ANTS, Glastonbury, EDC, Creamfields, Coachella or Tomorrowland. As well as playing live for Cercle, Boiler Room and BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix.

After the success of their first album ‘Found in The Wild,’ their sonic narrative unleashed a revolution that turned into an authentic piece of art, giving us a new perspective on what was happening in their minds and keeping us asking for more. Their mesmerizing compositions have been part of top-notch labels such as Anjunadeep, LNOE, Cercle, Armada Electronic Elements, Crosstown Rebels, and their own NYX Music.

This month, Eli & Fur celebrates the 10th anniversary of its music legacy with a brand-new version of ‘You’re’ So High,’ a single that opened up the doors of a magnificent beginning in the music industry.

To celebrate this milestone, we catch up with them to talk about their precious art, and their personal development during this decade, and discover the secrets of their numerous collaborations with artists like Meduza, Camelphat, Rodriguez Junior, Booka Shade and recently Sasha.

Keep an eye out; there is more to come!

Hey girls, welcome! How do you think the music industry has evolved most significantly since you started out back in the day while working at Xenomania? Have you ever imagined that your career would reach this point?

Things have changed so much, when we started it was all online music blogs, free downloads and no Spotify. You just have to keep evolving with it.

Things will always change and it’s important to us to embrace that and use it in a positive way. Use the things you can understand as a tool and not get too caught up in the negative parts that may not feel authentic to you.

What challenges did you face in the industry, and how did you remain positive?

We both find the disposable nature of the industry and the low attention spans of some audiences hard. People seem to be less patient these days, especially with how much content is put in front of us on a daily basis.

However there will always be true music lovers out there, looking for the most authentic things. There is joy if you look for it. It’s just in the less obvious places.

This year, we are not only celebrating ten years of countless stories, learnings, and challenges, but we are bringing a new era of your label NYX, and a brand-new version of your first release, “You’re so High’, Congrats on that! How have you sought to evolve NYX’s sonic journey? What remains on the label, and what has to change?

It’s important for us to have a creative outlet where we can be involved in every part of the decision making, the timeline, the artistic direction. We are so excited to build something we can be proud of. We want to shine light on real talents, musicians, songwriters and producers that we really believe in.

Has it come to your mind to create a NYX showcase for the near future?

Yes definitely, we would love to do something like that later down the line.

What can we discover in the new version of ‘You Are So High’? The original one was a huge success!

This version is geared a little more towards the dance floor, something we can play in our sets, it takes influences from music we have made and discovered over the past 10 years while still staying true to the original.

We noticed that each of the tracks you produce has awe-inspiring vocals. Why? Can you tell us about the importance of taking time to write great lyrics and what emotions most often emerge in your tracks?

As creatives. We both need an outlet that lets us turn feelings and emotions into art. That is what keeps us going. Without that things would become overwhelming.

We are lucky enough to be able to make electronic music that we can tell stories through. To communicate things like sadness, joy and heart ache into a track that we can play in our dj sets and eventually our live shows.

This vulnerability we can sense in your tracks and DJ sets kept us thinking, How do you merge the clubbing sound with that introspective part you communicate in your live shows? Do you think when you perform, the crowd feels your emotions and vice-versa?

This has always been a hard job, you have to balance things just enough to keep the energy, pulse, rhythm and heart of house music, the music that has really inspired the core of the project, with these more song writing and vocal aspects.

It has to be the perfect amount of sadness but uplifting, joy but also darkness. It’s a hard thing to get but when you do the moments on the dance floor are beautiful.

Rumour has it that 2024 will bring us a new album! Can you give us a sneak peek?

A new album is on the horizon. We can’t wait for this, it feels very exciting to have a big body of work with a story to tell.

This music is even more diverse but still in the electronic space, we will follow this with a live show that we are very excited about.

Would you say that making your previous album ‘Found in The Wild’ changed your songwriting perspective? How much will it affect what comes next?

Yes for sure, especially being our first album. With Found In The Wild, we had two sides to the album. One side let us express our songwriting, and the other let us create more dance floor energy. We like to be diverse in our creations.

It was freeing being able to do whatever felt right in the moment with no boundaries or limitations. It really helped us define the two sides to us, which has given us more clarity and ability to weave both those worlds into one cohesive track.

Most of your music has been released via Anjunadeep; what can you tell us about your journey through this label? And Why is it so special for you?

They were the first label that showed interest in our music and gave us this amazing platform.

It has been an incredibly important relationship over the years, the fan base is wonderful and it’s been a great home for our music.

We want to continue to work with Anjunadeep while also having our own outlet in our label. It’s a label that has inspired us to build our own.

Mass collabs like Meduza, Nico de Andrea, and Camelphat have blessed part of your expedition. What is the coolest thing you learned from all of these collaborations in terms of production and personal way?

Working with other producers always gives us a fresh take when we go back in the studio. Everyone works differently so it’s a great learning experience.

It was really cool collaborating with Meduza, we sent them the vocal and the chords, so the melodic parts had been created.

They added their incredible production, and really changed the energy in a way that works so, so well on the dancefloor but they kept the emotion.

It’s just so interesting getting somebody else’s mind on a track, we love to collaborate.

‘Pegasus’ blew the charts by reaching more than 16 million plays on Spotify. How do your and Meduza’s signature production styles balance each other in the single? What were the highlights of working with them on this?

We worked remotely, and sent a few ideas back-and-forth. It didn’t take long for us to find a balance between us that felt right.

It went from a song we loved into this amazingly energetic dance floor moment. It was the perfect balance and just works so well. We love to play it out.

Your music + your ethereal vocals make us connect so deeply with you, and we assume that other artists have done it as well and that we can see it in the remixes they have done for tracks. How do these tracks take on new meaning for you seeing them re-interpreted by great producers like Maya Jane Coles, Nils Hoffman, Marsh, or Rodriguez Jr.?

It’s amazing to have such talented artists recreate something special to you.

There are so many producers we love so a remix is a great way to connect and hear what they can do with our own music.

It’s incredibly special. We love all the artists that have done remixes for us, they always have a special place in our hearts.

Which of these tracks has a powerful story that you love sharing with us? Personal note: I Must confess that ‘Night Blooming Jasmine has been in my top 3 favorite songs on Spotify for three years in a row. I simply can’t stop listening to it. Thanks for creating this beauty!

Night Blooming Jasmine is a special one for us too!! Thank you for enjoying it too!!! It was a song we wrote about Los Angeles and a love story.

Rodriguez Jr just did the most perfect take on it, I remember when we first played it out it was in a tiny club in India.

That arpeggio came in and everyone just lost it, he took the emotion from the song and translated that into the instrumentation, he has such talent.

Could you provide us some details on your upcoming shows and your experience performing at some of the biggest stages and clubs worldwide, like Coachella, Glastonbury, ANTS, or Tomorrowland? Do you still make time to go clubbing and release yourself on the dance floor?

Fur: Most definitely, Bloc party in Chinatown, Los Angeles with DJ Tennis was my last “night out” fantastic music.

Eli: I played at a festival called Gardens of Babylon just outside Amsterdam that was super special. Intimate, lovely people, real music lovers. I would go back there any year!

What goals do you have for this year? And where can we find you? Perhaps Brazil soon?

We just played at Green Valley in Brazil!! What an amazing venue! It’s always amazing to spend time there and hopefully we will be back soon!!

So many goals for the rest of the year, we will be finishing the album and focusing on studio time! But there are still some exciting shows up ahead.

Space Miami being one of our favourites! Also Sound In Los Angeles where we both live at the moment. That will be the launch party of the new label!

Lastly, Which song best defines your friendship through these years?

One of our own songs? Or someone else’s? If we could say our own song, probably Broken Parts.

We released it as part of the album and filmed the music video through a whole night in LA and ended on the beach as the sun rose.

It was a perfect depiction of what was going on in our lives at that very moment, the song is a sad one but the memories of making it and filming the music video will always make us nostalgic and appreciate all our years of friendship.

Another song of someone else’s would probably be Miike Snow - Cult Logic, it came out in 2009 and was when we were running around London, as best mates, being Inspired by the music around us, it’s always been one of our favourite tracks.

Thanks, girls, for your time and for letting us know you through the beauty of your music.

Thank you so, so much for talking to us!

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