Elizabeth Aubrey

Freelance arts and culture journalist/lecturer. My work is regularly found in NME, Evening Standard, The Guardian, Empire, The Quietus, GQ, The Independent, MixMag, Crack and more.

Evening Standard •

‘Like opening up a magic box’: Inside the making of Moonage Daydream

The resulting film is an immersive journey into the creative mind of Bowie, rather than a factual blow-by-blow account of his life. It’s told entirely using the voice of late musician, using archival footage from interviews and films. There are previously unseen performances and concert clips, as well as vignettes of some of Bowie’s rarely showcased work in the wider artistic fields of art, dance, television and film...
NME •

Marcus Mumford – '(self-titled)' review: well-crafted catharsis and collaborations

The opening lines of Marcus Mumford’s solo outing make for a crushing listen. “I can still taste you and I hate it / That wasn’t a choice in the mind of a child and you knew it,” he intones on ‘Cannibal’, revealing – for the first time publicly – that he was sexually abused as a child. The album’s emotive second track, ‘Grace’, is about the moment he told his mother. Until hearing her son rehearse ‘Cannibal’ during lockdown, she had no idea what he’d experienced...
NME •

Marcus Mumford on solo album '(self-titled)': "I've never felt so fulfilled around a project"

When Marcus Mumford recalls mixing his upcoming debut solo album ‘(self-titled)’ with producer Blake Mills, he gets emotional at the memories of his final day in the studio: “‘Cannibal’ was the last song we were mixing… We were coming into the last 10 minutes of mixing this thing and I’m listening to the lyrics over and over again: “Help me know how to begin again…”
The Telegraph •

The week’s best albums - Reviews

“I’m in love again / And tomorrow I’ll be sad,” blubs Yungblud on his latest single, Tissues. As a soundbite, it offers a fair summation of the 25-year-old Yorkshire pop-punk singer-songwriter’s entire oeuvre. Set to a shamelessly borrowed Cure riff (from 1985’s Close to Me) and a slappy 1980s beat that would make A-Ha blush, Tissues is delivered with the snarly angst of someone who positively revels in his own and other people’s misery...
The Quietus •

Features | Escape Velocity | Beyond The Bubble: An Interview With Aasthma

Aasthma is the new project from techno masterminds Pär Grindvik and Peder Mannerfelt. The Swedish duo have been friends for more than 15 years and have collaborated on numerous projects together in the past. Now, the pair have finally decided to collaborate on an album together, Arrival. It’s a bold step away from each of their musical pasts, and comes with one hell of a description; when asked what it sounds like, Grindvik is clear: “It’s Justin Bieber meeting up with Rotterdam Terror Corps to do an ABBA cover at the Grand Ole Opry”…
The Telegraph •

Julia Jacklin ‘Pre Pleasure’ Album Review

On her excellent second album, Crushing, Julia Jacklin poured over a series of failed relationships with critical self-examination. Three years later with Pre Pleasure, Jacklin is taking a gentler approach. “Am I gonna lose myself again? / I quite like the person that I am”, she sings on standout song I Was Neon, considering whether a new relationship is worth it. Her previous work has explored female desire and guilt as women view themselves sexually through patriarchal lenses. Here, those lenses are joyfully smashed…
Evening Standard •

Sopé Dìrísù: the star on his new period drama Mr Malcolm’s List

His role is a far cry from the one he’s best known for, as undercover cop Elliot Finch in Sky Atlantic’s hit crime drama Gangs of London (season two of which will launch later this year), who lives on a knife edge working as a trusted enforcer for the Wallace crime family, always at risk of discovery. Mr Malcolm, by some considerable contrast, is a rigid, set-in-his-ways bachelor in Regency London, who puts together a list of attributes he wants in a wife…
NME •

Joe Keery: "I want my stage persona to surprise people"

It’s a roasting hot July day at Lollapalooza festival, Chicago, and Joe Keery is strutting confidently about the Bud Light Seltzer stage, electric guitar in hand. “What’s going on?!” he shouts to the sweaty crowd, “Y’all staying cool?” Some replying screams suggest they are, but Keery must be boiling. He’s sporting head-to-toe white overalls (as are the other touring members of his psych-rock outfit Djo), blocky sunglasses and a shoulder-length brown wig…
NME •

'Uncoupled' review: Neil Patrick Harris goes dating

It’s a big year for the gay romcom. In September, there’s the arrival of Billy Eicher’s Bros, the first romantic comedy from a major studio featuring two gay men in leading roles, plus a principal cast made up of entirely LGBTQ+ actors. Now, there’s also Netflix’s new Neil Patrick Harris-starring Uncoupled – a show about a gay man called Michael who is thrown into dating turmoil in his mid-40s after his partner of 17 years leaves him...
Evening Standard •

Adele marks emotional return home with dazzling performance

Her first public UK gig in over five years, the musician was visibly teary as the 65,000 strong crowd sang her hit back en masse. “I’m so happy to be here,” she enthused half-way through the song. “I’m back home.” As ever, despite being one of the biggest musicians on the planet (stars like Tom Cruise were watching from the VIP area), Adele retained her familial relatability with the audience from the get-go...
EMPIRE •

Vangelis tribute - interview with Ridley Scott and David Puttnam

I remember my editor Terry Rawlings and I had done a very good temporary score for the final cut of Blade Runner. I had engaged with Vangelis to compose the score. Most musicians do not want to hear temp scores, particularly if it is really good, because it inevitably has a dominating influence on their creative process. However, I shoot very much with score tied to the visual and the two are inseparable....
NME •

Soundtrack Of My Life: Wilco's Jeff Tweedy

“I remember hearing it and just thinking that it sounded like it had been made by celestial beings or something! An unbelievably fortunate thing in my life was that my older brothers, sister and aunt all had lots of records. By the time I was seven or eight-years-old, I had such a passion for records that they all ended up giving me theirs from the 1950s – I sort of inherited them. I listened to those records all day long, but especially this one.”
Evening Standard •

Lykke Li interview: ‘It’s hard to balance art and motherhood’

“I’d been on the road for so many years and I have so many health issues,” she explains of “destructive” touring cycles. “I found [touring] very difficult and I still don’t know how to balance that with art,” she admits. “Just travelling itself is [hard], I’m very introverted and sensitive and I always get sick. It’s just not very helpful for the body in general: I struggle with it a lot.”…
Evening Standard •

Kam-BU: the London rapper on racism, Grenfell and cleaning out rivers

“Music’s cool, I love music and I love doing shows, but I feel like there’s more to do with my time and looking after the environment is one of them.” When we speak, with him Zooming from his dad’s home in Richmond, he’s on a rare day off in between recording his next project and his volunteering work, both with the London Wildlife Trust and at Twickenham’s Crane Park. This is not your average music interview, it’s fair to say...
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