Elkka releases her debut album ‘Prism of Pleasure’ via Ninja Tune

Cardiff-born producer and DJ Elkka today releases her long-awaited debut album Prism of Pleasure, via Ninja Tune.

Composed over 18 months, Prism of Pleasure encapsulates Elkka’s essence as a bold, queer woman who pushes freedom and sensuality to the forefront of her work. It hasn’t always been like this: born and raised in South Wales, with next to no queer community in her immediate vicinity, Elkka had to piece together her identity slowly and curiously, gradually finding herself along the way. After coming out and moving to London in her 20s, the musician started DJing, writing and producing, which eventually led to her launching her own record label, femme culture, and running her own queer club nights off the back of that. “I think sometimes things unlock, and start to make sense and then you just follow it,” Elkka says now. “I started to go out more and become part of a community. I was more confident in myself, so I was more confident in writing and producing – it all came together at the same time.”

Written around the notion of queer intimacy, Prism of Pleasure is like a peep into a steam-filled room of wonders, via the female gaze (a concept beautifully represented in the pink-tinged album artwork, photographed by Elkka’s wife and longtime creative collaborator Alex Lambert). From the smooth, silken vocals of ‘Crushhh’ to the slow-winding, breathy beats of ‘Your Skin’ (“I’m breathing you in, I want to taste every inch of your skin”) and the steady, undulating synth patterns of ‘surrender2me’, Prism of Pleasure unfurls like a patchwork of sweat-slick nights, emotional connectedness and hidden pleasures.

Elkka’s deep intuition is the unifying thread throughout her illustrious career: vibrant releases for Local Action and Ninja Tune have marked her as an unstoppable force within the underground. This recognition metabolised when she was awarded BBC’s prestigious Essential Mix of the Year in 2021, spotlighting her radiant blend of classic house, breakbeat and experimental electronica to the world over. More recently Elkka spoke with The New Yorker for an in-depth interview feature discussing the themes of Prism of Pleasure and also featured on the cover of Disco Pogo magazine.

She has been widely supported by her peers including Four Tet, Floating Points, TSHA, Caribou, Sofia Kourtesis, Jon Hopkins, Ben UFO and SHERELLE. Last year, Elkka released a 4-track EP of energetic club tools called DJ Friendly and she also contributed to the trailblazing DJ-Kicks series with a spellbinding mix that championed her love of women and the LGBTQ+ dance community of which Elkka is fiercely part of, regularly performing in intimate spaces and queer parties at the likes of Panorama Bar and FEEL IT. Stay tuned for more from Elkka’s Prism Of Pleasure.

Elkka has been celebrating the lead-up to her debut album release with a string of self-curated ‘Elkka Presents: Prism of Pleasure’ parties, which kicked off at Badaboum in Paris before rolling through Brussels, Manchester and a sold out show at London’s Phonox last week. She also hosted an intimate album launch party at viral lesbian bar La Camionera last night for friends, family and members of the FLINTA community. Elkka will be performing across the UK/EU festival circuit this summer including KALA, Glastonbury, Tomorrowland + many more. Full dates listed below.