Q&A: Soklo’s Debut Album Turns Distortion into a Love Language
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SHEVON GREENE ☆
Photo by Steph Butchko
ELIJAH SOKOLOW, ALSO KNOWN AS SOKLO — is launching a full-blown sonic rebellion. On SOKLO, out now, the LA-based artist and producer breaks down the rulebook of guitar music and rebuilds it with jagged tones and glitchy textures, topped with raw emotional honesty. A genre-defier by nature, Soklo mixes together indie, experimental rock, and avant-pop into a project that feels both intimate and explosive, almost like a diary entry left on a distortion pedal.
Known for his viral guitar clips and playful sonic experiments across Instagram and TikTok, Soklo’s rise has been anything but ordinary. From capturing the attention of Fred Again and Matt Shultz from Cage the Elephant to turning fans’ reactions into creative fuel, he’s shown that there’s an audience hungry for risk, and he’s more than ready to deliver. Across tracks like the love-soaked “clawclip,” the self-lashing “parasite,” and the biting “elevator pitch,” Soklo invites listeners into his world of vulnerability, chaos, and radical sound design.
Luna got to chat with Soklo about writing from real life, losing his album to a hard drive crash, and why he believes musicians are the ultimate plugins. Read on to dive deeper into the mind behind this bold debut record.
Photo by Steph Butchko
LUNA: Your debut album SOKLO is described as redefining guitar music. What inspired you to take such an experimental approach to guitar-driven music?
SOKOLOW: I have loved playing guitar for a long time but I’ve also gotten tired of hearing a lot of the same types of sounds. Out of my love for playing, I’ve developed an appreciation for chasing sounds that allow me to feel present with the playing, rather than feeling like I’m attempting to recreate something from the past or something that I wasn’t a part of. This is an era of bedroom guitarists and crazy technology in music and I feel like embracing that has allowed me to get more creative in my approach - because I don’t necessarily need to recreate these sounds 100% the same way when I play live. They exist in a different space.
LUNA: The album mixes indie, experimental rock, and avant-pop. How did you navigate those genres to create a cohesive sound?
SOKOLOW: I have some different types of songs but the cohesion is created in the production and in the songwriting choices. The goal for this record was to have it sound blown out and intense while also being intimate. In the writing, I have harmonic choices that I like to make a lot and between those choices, my voice, my production, Jacob Somerscales’ drumming and Dillon Reed’s mixing, there is an overarching “sound” to the record even if each song is different stylistically. I find that people are the ultimate plugins.
LUNA: How has fan interaction on social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok influenced the creation of this album?
SOKOLOW: I started sharing my music online a while back and it had the total opposite effect on me than what I’ve heard people say about it. Oftentimes, people talk about musicians catering towards TikTok or changing what they do in order to market themselves. For me, finding other guitarists and musicians online that connect to my playing has validated me in feeling like I can do whatever I want. I think it’s because it taught me that there is an audience for experimentation. I asked my followers for song recommendations once and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of experimental music on there. That gave me a lot of confidence that they can handle anything and I shouldn’t assume that I can’t be vulnerable in my music.
LUNA: The album was crafted around fans’ reactions to your experimental tones shared online. Can you elaborate on how this feedback shaped the album?
SOKOLOW: The feedback was both positive and negative. I always stick to my gut in terms of how I feel but kind of like I mentioned above, sharing these ideas gave me a lot of confidence because I found that some ideas that I didn’t think much of were the ones that would get a lot of love online. It was that kind of encouragement that made me feel like maybe I should spend a little more time on each idea and see where it goes before just discarding it. That said, the reactions aren’t the only thing that encourage me - but having that feedback was something I hadn’t experienced before.
LUNA: I was super drawn to the titles on the tracklist, including "parasite," "clawclip," and "elevator pitch." Can you share the stories or themes behind the titles for the album?
SOKOLOW: Thank you! They all come from different places as opposed to one concept but this record was written out of expressing my experiences from different moments in recent life. “parasite” is about feeling drained and torn up by yourself, feeling like something is in you that just isn’t right. It’s a little amorphous but I feel like it’s really a song about denial in a way. On a totally different note - “clawclip” is a love song to my girlfriend, Steph, who I’ve been with for three years! She wears clawclips in her hair and the title came to me because one of my lyrics is about finding her clawclip on my desk and realizing that even a piece of plastic can make me smile because it belongs to her. Sometimes it’s the little things each day that remind you how you feel about someone. Meanwhile, the song “elevator pitch” is about many interactions I’ve had with people where I feel that they are just talking to me to get something from me but they’re not forthright enough to just say that. These topics aren’t all related but they are connected in that they are all separate things I’ve felt and my music is my vehicle for communicating these vignettes.
LUNA: How did your collaboration with Spilly Cave come about for “yr right,” and what was the creative process like?
SOKOLOW: I met Spilly years ago in NYC, before both he and I became internet guitar players. I always thought he was a great musician and it was so cool to see how his music developed over time. Eventually, I noticed that we shared a lot of listeners and I thought it’d be really cool for both myself and the fans to hear something we would make together. I was inspired by his style and had this one song idea that I thought he would fit really well on so I sent it to him in an incomplete way and he had some great ideas to compliment it.
LUNA: You've caught the attention of artists like Fred Again and Matt Shultz from Cage the Elephant. How have these acknowledgments impacted you?
SOKOLOW: I am so thankful that I’ve been able to connect with some of my favorite artists ever through sharing my music. I have so much respect for the bigger artists that take the time to discover what’s happening in underground music. Everyone that I’ve talked to has been incredibly kind and it’s these moments that leave me with a lot of gratitude.
Photo by Steph Butchko
LUNA: What challenges did you face while pushing guitars to a "sonically broken place," and how did you overcome them?
SOKOLOW: One challenge that I faced was losing eight out of the 10 songs on the album from a faulty hard drive. I had to straight up re-record most of the album. In a way though, I’m thankful it happened because the album turned out a lot more lively the second time around. I was able to think back on choices I made and decide if I wanted to leave them or elevate them. In general, I love the sounds of things being pushed to their limit, audio clipping, and voices being pushed to where they have simply no choice but to break. It’s in these sounds that I feel passion. I suppose one challenge was - how do I incorporate these sounds in a way that preserves the musicality of the songs without distracting from them, but still expresses this passion? That was something I overcame in arranging and mixing the material - having to prioritize moments of chaos and calm in order to find the balance.
LUNA: How does your work as a producer and your experience in your college band The Living Strange influence your solo project?
SOKOLOW: Working as a producer has given me so much perspective on making music. I work with all types of artists and it’s super refreshing because of that variety. There are musical lessons, like for instance, I need to keep my arrangements simple when I want them to sound bigger. But also, there are life lessons, like getting things right from the source - not after the fact. It’s also taught me that there are no rules and if I hear something and want to make it happen that way, I totally can. I learned that lesson by making records occasionally with people who don’t feel that way. Additionally, my work in The Living Strange was figuratively my college experience. We made five albums and played so many shows. The most valuable lesson I learned in the band was to not compromise my creativity and to follow my heart.
LUNA: With the album dropping soon, what are your plans for live performances or tours to promote SOKLO?
SOKOLOW: I can’t wait to get back on tour! I’m booking some shows for the late summer and fall time. The dates aren’t yet announced but they will be up on my socials soon!
