Halifax’s Keeper E. teases upcoming release with a brand new single

The 2021 Music Nova Scotia award-winning rising star is ready to take on the local music scene with a new single and a highly-anticipated EP on the way in early May

CITYnews halifax \ Steve Gow

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Over the course of the pandemic, Halifax musician Keeper E. has found a particular way to help try to keep the anxiety at bay.

“I found that singing always helps with anxiety for me,” says the rising local talent. “It’s something to do with breathing and stuff, and just focusing on a task, (and) everyone knows how to sing — it’s sort of a basic skill and everyone can do it — and it helps to regulate your breathing and connect to music.”

Keeper E. (whose real name is Adelle Elwood) has definitely put the practice to good use over the past two years. Soon to launch her sophomore EP, thank u and please and don’t go, she has carved seven songs out of the ashes of the pandemic and just released the first single ahead of the rest of the EP’s delivery date in early May.

“It’s good to have lots of stuff to post about before the big EP comes out,” says Elwood about releasing the song This Is Like Everything to streaming platforms as a preview to the new EP. “I like to do it a little by little.”

The song may also make a melodic introduction to a post-pandemic world where COVID-19 restrictions may be disappearing but the associated anxiety does not. As Elwood notes the song is “meant to capture how anxiety makes all these unnecessary connections in our brains.”

While the song is more specifically addressing deep personal issues for Elwood, there is no doubt its broader themes will resonate with listeners in today’s current climate.

“It’s been good for me and helpful for me just to hear songs about things that I’m struggling with,” says Elwood. “And even if there isn’t an answer about what to do in the song, it’s good to know that other people are dealing with the same things, and also getting anxious about everything or struggling to be a person.”

Growing up in Hammonds Plains, Elwood discovered music very early on. By three years of age, she had already picked up the violin and soon after began studying piano.

Following high school, Elwood would attend New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University to obtain a classical piano performance degree, where she began composing her own art-pop songs exploring the personal side of love and life.

“I don’t think (the genres) intermingle that much, but definitely the skills I learned playing the piano and stuff, it’s all helpful for producing music,” says Elwood of studying classical while writing more mainstream music. “I do just find it’s easier to express my feelings and stuff through this kind of music, and I find it more fun.”

Her interest would eventually lead to Elwood’s seven-song debut EP, The Sparrows All Find Food and the first single, Please Don’t Tell Me. Released in 2020, the album would quickly gain attention and would even land Elwood the New Artist Recording of the Year award during Music Nova Scotia’s Music Week — an honour Elwood still finds humbling.

“I was definitely a bit surprised and it was just really, really nice,” recalls Elwood. “I really just started releasing music during COVID and wasn’t performing much before that at all, so I feel like I’m really new to the music scene, (so) it’s still surprising to me every time someone knows who I am or knows my music.”

As Keeper E., music fans are definitely getting to know Elwood and her unique sound. With the single, the forthcoming release and several live dates scheduled (including an album launch show at the Bus Stop Theatre on May 27), she can’t wait to showcase her music to even more people and get further entrenched within the local music scene.

“It’s just nice that you can still connect with a community I guess and be recognized as part of the community even though I feel like I still don’t know that many musicians in Halifax yet,” says Elwood about the support she’s received so early in her career.

“That’s definitely the main vibe of every musician I’ve met. Everyone is just like happy to be making music and happy to know each other, and I haven’t really felt competition at all — it’s just support, which is really nice.”

For more information on Keeper E., visit her website.