Elena Setién

In addition to composing scores for film and television, Elena Setién has traversed theatrical art song and hypnotic electronic atmospheres as a singer/songwriter. After spending five years with the vocal jazz duo Little Red Suitcase, her 2013 solo debut album, the theatric Twelve Sisters, was based on stories passed down within her family. In 2019, a Moby Dick-inspired track with harpist Mary Lattimore and her third LP, Another Kind of Revolution, shifted toward a more atmospheric sound including vintage keyboards and electronics. The poetry of Emily Dickinson provided some of the lyrics for Setién's hushed and haunting fourth album, 2022's Unfamiliar Minds. Born in Basque Country and based in Denmark since 2002, Setién recorded and toured as half of jazz duo Little Red Suitcase with Johanna Borchert in the late 2000s and early 2010s. They were nominated for three Danish Jazz Awards during their time together, all for Best Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. Setién's jazz background was evident on her 2013 solo debut, Twelve Sisters (ILK Music), whose theatrical stylings included a combo with vocals, piano, and strings by Setién and guests on guitar, bass, and drums. Her second solo album, 2017 Dreaming of Earthly Things (Yellowbird, Enja Records), was co-produced by Setién and Mikel Azpiroz and added vintage keyboards and synths to her instrument palette. Setién (with Ignacio Bilbao) composed the score for the 2018 film Oreina (The Deer) before reuniting with Azpiroz for her next solo album, early 2019's Another Kind of Revolution, which featured contributions from guitarists Steve Gunn and Andreas Fuglebæk. It marked her debut for the Thrill Jockey label. That September, she released "Wreckage of the Hunt," a Herman Melville-inspired collaboration with Mary Lattimore on harp and electronics. The EP Mirande, a Basque-language collaboration with Grand Days and Xabier Erkizia, followed on Forbidden Colours in 2020. Setién and Erkizia also worked together on music for the Basque TV series Altsasu (2020). The haunting character of those collaborations forecasted Setién's fourth solo LP, the Thrill Jockey-issued Unfamiliar Minds, which featured electronics and co-production by Erkizia.
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