Arist to Watch : Eliot Sumner

A brain injury affects each person in an incredibly unique manner. In 2013 Eliot Sumner fell and her accident resulted in a permanent loss of a smell and a need to take strong, personality altering anti-seizure medicine. The timing of this is interesting because it coincides with a huge shift in her music career as well. She release her first record at age 17 as an electro-pop singer under the moniker I Blame Coco. Be it the nature of getting older or a genuine mood change after her fall, 8 years after the start of her career, she no longer identified with this kind of music. She wanted to do something else and thus Eliot Sumner was born.

The electronic overtones are still in place with her new direction however in listening to her newest singles, her songwriting (she plays multiple instruments) is darker and no longer candy coated. While it is impossible to not hear her father's voice in hers (no biggie, just a guy name STING), her bass playing is also strikingly similar and connects the bloodline even more deeply from parent to child. Newer influences are said to be anywhere from drone music, Kraftwerk, and prog rock.

I can't imagine the pressure of trying to cut your own path with two famous parents (her mum is actress and producer Trudie Styler) while growing up basically in front of a camera (she has modeled) and as a recording artist. She is still young, discovering her voice, and this is truthfully still the early days of her career. I am rooting for her and am really liking the songs she has released this year leading up to a full length in early 2016.