Julien Elsie is a spanish singer/songwriter and multi-intrumentalist. Born in the border line between Portugal and Spain to a musician father, and classically trained, raised in a musical environment, at the age of 16 he left piano studies to dedicate himself to playing other instruments, taking part in several bands.
From the late '80s, he was making music in bands like The Animal Crackers, recording two albums: Work My Body (Jammin', 1992) and Sounds Like a Hit (Jammin', 1995). With his next project Big Black Mariah, he signed to the label Everlasting Records and released two albums, Buick (1998) and Lovesmoke (1999).
In 2007, Julien Elsie began making music under his own name. He released six critically acclaimed albums. His first solo album Dig a Grave With Bare Hands, released in 2010 through Everlasting Records. Deux (Headless Chicken Rcds /Lengua Armada), arrived in early 2012 to favorable reviews. In 2014, he released an EP titled 4. Stories from the Edge (Headless Chicken Records), Yakutsk (Luscinia Discos) followed in 2016 and Furry Home in 2018.
His most recent album, all instrumental, Ribbed Core Noise, was released on april, 2022, in which Elsie has been in charge of the production himself, recorded live direct-to-tape and playing all instruments.
Elsie’s music walks around alt-country, dark folk and the author's song of a lifetime. An expressionist rock, with Americana reminiscences and cinematographic qualities, which means that his music has the ability to evoke powerful images in the listener's imagination. Minimalist solo compositions played with guitar and electronics, who fuses melody with drone and repetition.
Critics have generally described his music as depressing and intensely dark, with one critic describing it as "like a good black hole, if it catches you there is no escape. It captivates you with the mantras of the loop machine and a keyboard note that will sound from beginning to end of each song and, you know, from that gravitational field, not even light is able to escape."
Julien Elsie has shared stage with several international artists, such as Luna, The Black Lips, The Drones or Mercury Rev.
He also spends his time composing movie soundtracks. His song "Bob, You Can See Me" features in the documentary Queridos Monstruos (Hermanos Prada, 2014), was candidate to Goya awards for best original song category.