Introducing The Electric “Aloha Soul” Artist…Eli Smart

Filled with good vibes and showcasing undeniable talent, Eli Smart is an emerging artist that needs to be on your radar. Growing up in Kaua’i, Hawaii, the young talent was consistently surrounded by an array of musical influences. From his house being filled with the sounds of the industry’s biggest artists to jam sessions with his father, no musical stone was left unturned.

As time went by, Eli took his love for music to a new level, when he began to learn how to play the guitar. Citing 60’s rock, jazz, soul and the rich Hawaiian culture as influences the rising artist created his own unique sound, which he dubbed “Aloha Soul”.

The 21-year old made his official debut in 2018 with his addictive single ‘Come On, Come On, Come On’ setting the stage for his other incredible tracks to come. Fast forward to 2021 and the rising artist is splitting his time between Kaua’i and Liverpool, releasing more eclectic tracks and amassing new fans.

With ‘Come Down’ – his first single of 2021 – making the rounds we can’t wait to hear what else Eli Smart has up his sleeve. We were able to talk to the ‘Cruella Deville’ singer about everything from his musical influences, his “Aloha Soul” sound, and debut EP. Read the full interview below…

Heya Eli! How’s it hanging? 

Hey! Doing just fine thank you. It’s been quite the year but I ain’t complaining. We’re all getting through this together, right?

Definitely, taking it one day at a time. Has 2021 been treating you good? Any massive changes from 2020? 

So far so good, it’s been a much needed lovely little mental restart. Objectively, things aren’t too crazy different just yet but coming out of 2020 has definitely been a nice shift in perspective and mood. Crazy how powerful a little mind trick on yourself can be!

Alright, let’s dive into the music. Which genres of music or specific artists helped shape your childhood?

Ooo. There’s so much good music I fell in love with as a kid it’s overwhelming. There was definitely a lot of rock n roll, soul, ska and Latin music in constant rotation around the house. Probably be easiest to name a few of my favourites growing up. It’s a very common answer (for all the right reasons) but I love and have always loved The Beatles, there’s nobody like them, end of the story. I never ever know how to take anybody seriously when I hear all this “Stones over The Beatles” chat.

My family used to play a load of amazing records growing up, from that incredible David Byrne Brazillian music compilation, Beleza Tropical, to Beck’s Midnight Vultures, to artists like Desmond Dekker, Gladys Knight and The Pips, Bobby Womack, Ry Cooder, Modest Mouse, Ohio Players, Taj Mahal and Joao Gilberto. As I said, there’s so much amazing music out there!! My family definitely had a very eclectic music taste and it absolutely rubbed off on me and informed my current record collection, I’m very thankful for the world-class Tarantino childhood soundtrack. Thanks, mom and dad.

We hear that you come from a family full of musicians! What was it like being surrounded by so many different musical influences? 

Yeah aha, it’s a blast. I’m really so grateful to have grown up in such an environment where music is so nurtured. As prevalent as music is in our family dynamic it was never pushed upon me growing up, there was literally just always an instrument around and some good records on. I was really able to find my own passion for it within the context of all of my family already being musicians.

I think I just really enjoyed soaking up all the different influences growing up both consciously and subconsciously whether it was an appreciation for jazz from my grandpa or a fascination with 60s rock from my grandma. It was just always so apparent that music made each one of us so happy in a different way, we all have our own passions for it and it’s played a unique role in all of our lives but it has been a lovely thing that we have all always been able to come together and appreciate.

Are there any lessons from your family that have stuck with you today?  

Plenty! No wrinkles, learn how to iron gig shirts, very important life skill ha! No, but on a serious note, hmm. Be kind, spread the love, eat your greens, ha whenever I’m eating veggies I’ll forever hear my dad’s voice saying “mangia insalata che ti fa bene” which in Italian means “eat your salad because it’s good for you” he’s said that to me since I was a wee lad. I guess these are more sayings than lessons but they have definitely stuck with me.

Speaking of influences, can you take us through your incredible ‘Aloha Soul’ sound? 

Ahh of course! In addition to all the music I grew up loving, another main influence of mine are my surroundings. Growing up on Kauai massively informed my appreciation of music as music is such a beautiful part of Hawaiian culture. Me calling my style of music Aloha Soul is my way of paying homage to music in Hawaiian culture as well as honouring Kauai as my environment which has inspired me creatively so much growing up.

The “soul” part of Aloha Soul to me directly references and honours Soul music, which has been my number one musical influence growing up. So fusing aloha and soul is my way of synthesizing my two deepest inspirations; my environment and the most beautiful music in the world. I moved to Liverpool for university and fell in love with the environment and atmosphere there as well. It has such an evocative vibe about it and the city inspired me massively. I think the combination of spending time in Liverpool and having grown up on Kauai, two places with such rich musical histories, have really helped shape the sound of the tunes I’ve been making lately. 

We have to talk about your fantastic single ‘Cruella Deville’! What was the creative process for this track?  

Thank you!! So stoked you dig it. This tune actually took a good minute to come to where it’s at now. It was strange because I usually am able to hone in on the general sound of a tune pretty quickly after I write it since I often have all my weird production ideas in mind already but when I tried to demo this tune after writing it in Liverpool a while back it didn’t really excite me so I actually left it for a bit. It wasn’t until I came back home to Kauai upon the first lockdown in March that I opened the tune back up again and started playing around with where it could go.

I was listening to Sly Stone’s Family affair and all these other great older records like Little Beaver, JJ Cale and Shuggie Otis that all featured drums machines. I was so eager to try messing around with drum machine sounds and wanted to incorporate them into my tunes somehow and mix it in with live drums to get a really weird groovy feel of quirky robotic drum machine sounds and wonky not so robotic live drums. That whole fascination inspired the groove on Cruella Deville which seemed to be the thing that was holding me back and then the rest flowed easy.

Will this record be featured on an upcoming EP or album??  

Oh, fo sho!! Amongst some other brand new Aloha Soul 🙂

Can you give us a sneak peek at what music listeners can expect from you this year? 

Yea, just expect plenty of music, I won’t let you down! To start things off though I’m so excited to be putting out my first EP in April, it’s called Boonie Town. It’s getting pressed to 10” vinyl?! Having my tunes on a proper record has always always been a huge dream of mine so I couldn’t be more stoked for it! Thank you for having me!

Make sure to check out Eli Smart’s new single ‘Come Down’ and watch his video for ‘Cruella Deville’.