For the last four years, Eliot Sumner has performed under her nickname Coco as the frontwoman for the band I Blame Coco. Then this June she scrawled a handwritten note, snapped a photo of it and posted it on her social media accounts. The contents revealed that, after taking some time off since releasing her first album, “The Constant,” she had some news: “I am happy to inform you that I am alive and well. New music is on the way!” A bit further down came this revelation: “New music will be released under my birth name, Eliot Sumner. I am looking forward to you hearing it. It’s nice to be back.”
On Facebook, the post generated nearly 2,000 thumbs up and more than a hundred enthusiastic comments from fans (and one who wondered, “Can we still blame Coco?”). For the shy 24-year-old British singer, the letter marked a no-turning-back point for ditching her previous it-girl anonymity, and cleared the way for the release of her new four-track EP, which comes out on August 5. “I tried to write this album a bunch of times, and it took a good four years to get myself together and just start turning out songs,” she says. The title track, “Information,” reveals that, as Eliot, Sumner’s voice still retains a husky quality and broken sadness. Others, like “Come Friday,” show that her electro-pop energy hasn’t faded. Her interest in exploring darker themes is also intact. “I like to write from a slightly sad or complicated place,” she says, then pauses. “But with a sense of hope and happiness at the same time.”
Growing up in England, Sumner taught herself how to play the guitar at 5, mostly by watching those around her, including her father, Sting. She was initially influenced by bands like Pink Floyd
and Jimi Hendrix, before maturing into into “older, underground” music by Joy Division and the Cure. She formed her first legit band while in high school. “It was me playing the guitar, three rappers,
a trumpet player and drummer,” she says. “We changed our band’s name every day, and only played one gig at school, which was very improvised.”
With her current EP and forthcoming album to be released next year, Sumner has been more focused, but admits to losing her way at times. “I started out just doing this myself, and that was going great, and then I hit a wall,” she says. She listened to Krautrock for inspiration and tapped musician friends like Charlie Fink of Noah & the Whale. “We got together and in the space of two hours, we started writing songs,” she says, “which was a massive help.” The Copenhagen-based electro producer and musician Anders Trentemoller also lent a hand, providing a remix of “Information.” The rest of the album is still up in the air, which Sumner is fine with. “I think I’ll probably figure out the theme when it’s finished,” she says. “But I’m working on that.”
