UCLA singer-songwriter jazzes up Irish folk at Fowler debut

Elena Loper said her family first introduced her to Irish folk music when she was just a little girl, and she hasn’t stopped listening since.

Irish music has played an integral role in the fourth-year ethnomusicology student’s time at UCLA: Loper studied abroad in Ireland, focused her ethnomusicology thesis on Irish-American music and emigration, and now, models her own songwriting on music of the Irish tradition.

“I listen to a lot of jigs, and they aren’t as driving as rock or pop music,” Loper said. “There’s a sort of swinging quality (in Irish folk) that’s really attractive to me.”

Loper will share her folk-inspired sound with audiences at the Fowler Museum as part of the Fowler Out Loud concert series on Thursday, performing both her own original music as well as covers of Hozier, Andrew Bird and Joni Mitchell. Of these contemporary artists, Loper said Joni Mitchell has been one of her oldest musical influences.

“(Joni Mitchell’s) songs are some of the first that I’ve ever performed out at a venue,” Loper said. “I’ve been singing Joni since I was about 10 years old, so her music is very dear to my heart.”

Loper’s performance at the Fowler Museum is the latest of many public shows for the singer. Previously, she has performed at last year’s Spring Sing, the Arts in the Union Festival on campus and The Wilde Thistle Celtic Cafe in Culver City.

One of the highlights of her Thursday set, Loper said, is the chance to debut her latest original song, “All My Seasons,” which she plans to record and release as her first independent single at the end of the month. Loper said the song is about commemorating the change of seasons and having the opportunity to spend an entire cycle of seasons with a loved one. She said the song’s theme is typical of her lyrical style, which tends toward motifs of love and family.

Eric Schmidt, a doctoral ethnomusicology student and coordinator of the Fowler Out Loud series, said he feels that Loper’s combination of Irish, jazz and folk sensibilities makes her music both accessible and interesting to UCLA audiences.

“(Fowler Out Loud) is aimed at exposing students to musical cultures and traditions that they may not have experienced before,” Schmidt said. “It’s a matter of introducing students to new perspectives.”

Loper will be accompanied by a band of her peers, an ensemble comprising mostly fellow UCLA music students, some of whom the vocalist has collaborated with for past gigs. She said the instrumentation for Thursday’s show is heavily centered on string instruments like the fiddle, upright bass and cello to evoke a folk fusion musical sound.

Fourth-year music performance student and cellist Niall Ferguson said he had been eager to work with Loper since first hearing her singing in the hallways of the Schoenberg Music Building when the two were both first-year students.

“I just overheard her one day and there was this incredible sort of pure clarity to the way she sang, and it was just striking to hear,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said Loper’s voice is well-suited to the set list she has selected for her Fowler Out Loud show, which includes a cover of Andrew Bird’s “Near Death Experience Experience” and Hozier’s “Like Real People Do.”

“The interesting thing is that a lot of the music we’re covering is for male singers, but Elena’s voice lends itself so well to it, too,” Ferguson said. “It’s a different kind of color, but it’s equally fitting.”

Having put together the instrumentalists herself, Loper said the hardest part about spearheading a band is making sure to always over-prepare.

“I can’t just come in and look at the lyrics and sing,” Loper said. “I have to have all the charts prepared and highlighted, and make sure all the chords are right and that I have a clear idea of what I want before the rehearsal.”

Fourth-year ethnomusicology student and jazz pianist Alan McDonnell said the band respects Loper’s organization and skill at arranging instrumental parts and is confident that her amiability in the rehearsal room will cross over to the stage.

“She’s a really warm person overall, and I think the audience feels the same way when she’s performing,” McDonnell said. “There’s this feeling that she’s really close to you, in a way.”

Likewise, Loper said she hopes that audiences will hear her and appreciate the messages in her music, both in her originals and in her interpretations of other artists’ songs.

“What I would hope someone would think after hearing a song of mine is, ‘Oh, I really understand what she was feeling,’ or, ‘I can really imagine the person she was talking about,’” Loper said. “I want people to connect to (the music) on a really emotional level.”