Today we’d like to introduce you to Ella Zoller.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born in Delaware and moved around a lot growing up. I’ve lived in eight different states, mainly East Coast including Utah and Hawaii, and too many houses and apartments to count. In school, I studied violin, drums, piano, guitar, and voice, and eventually started writing my own songs. I loved E.E. Cummings’s poetry and Stephen King novels, collected Wyeth and Rene Magritte prints, and started stealing my sister’s mixtapes in high school, where I discovered many of my musical influences to this day.
I performed in several plays and musicals throughout my childhood and in high school, so it made sense for me to head off to NYU Tisch School of the Arts for college. I studied acting at The Experimental Theatre Wing, where I learned how to create my own work, and Stonestreet Studios for film and TV acting. I formed my first band, a folk duo, in 2011 and learned a lot about how to write, produce and release music during the next few years. In my last semester at NYU, my dream pop band PROM was approached by a label to release our debut EP ‘Keeping Company,’ so after a few film projects, I pressed pause on acting to focus on music. I moved out to LA to pursue my current solo project, Xoller, in 2017.
Some fun facts include: I changed my name to Ella when I was 6, I was a sailing instructor for most of my teen years, and I’m an avid peanut butter cup enthusiast.
Please tell us about your art.
I make dreamy and introspective pop music under the name Xoller. I am also one half of Dreamwave duo PROM, which has a slightly more electronic tilt.
In my music, I explore the feeling of being trapped by cyclical heartache, touching on themes of addiction and wistful love, described with a slightly heightened sense of nostalgia. My inspiration comes from artists like The Magnetic Fields – the cooly detached combination of honesty and artifice – and Lana Del Rey – the devotional “I’ll do anything for you” type of crooner. I’m also a big Elvis fan and my vocal style lends itself to similar songwriting.
I discovered at a young age that I frequently feel things more strongly than most people, and the emotion lingers for a longer period of time. I like to think of it as both a blessing and a curse. Most of my life has been centered on using music as a safety valve for my personal expression, which morphed from a passion into a profession.
Xoller is like a safe space, a sort of controlled confessional; even though I believe art can be therapeutic, I try to not treat it like therapy. I create music as a way to check in with myself; how am I really doing, what am I worried about, what do I need to talk about right now, and could that maybe help someone else who hears it feel a little less alone?
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
The idea of “success” is such a personal one. I’ll consider myself “successful” once I can spend the bulk of my time making music and support myself financially and emotionally from it. A characteristic I think is essential to “success” as an artist is hard work, and the ability to adapt and innovate over time. It sounds cliche and pretty obvious, but I think consistent hard work is the one critical factor.
“Success” to me would be to have a varied career where I can make music for lots of different things: film, TV, artist projects, commercials, scores, etc; endless possibilities keeps it interesting.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My debut EP “Diamond In My Head” is available on all streaming platforms! Check it out on Spotify, Apple Music, or on my website at xollersounds.com.
I also play live gigs around Los Angeles, so catch me at a show sometime! I have really cool T-shirts for sale as well that support my rent-paying and food-eating lifestyle.
You can keep up to date with Xoller releases and live show info on my Instagram @__xoller.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.xollersounds.com
- Email: xollersounds@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/__xoller/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xollersounds/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_xoller
Image Credit:
Zane Roessell, Zach Wright, Lizzie Steimer, Jono Bernstein, Olya Viglione
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