Elle Chante is a musical self-expressionist based in the West Midlands UK. Fueled by her experiences, she threads her reality of complex mental health and disability into her work.
She began to develop her artistic practice as a means of processing personal trauma, and the ethos of music as therapy has remained integral to her work. Whispering of painful and complicated subjects in an airy tone and twisting metaphors, her music has been described as ‘ethereal, emotive and soothing’.
In describing her work, Elle says: “I’m a strong believer in the power of empathy and community and aim to make music that creates space for people to better understand each other and themselves.”
In 2018 she worked as the co-creator of a theatre piece called Seasick, which combined her music with performance poetry to explore relationships between chronic illness and the natural world. For Seasick, she composed 5 original songs to be performed alongside poetry and monologue, last performed in October 2021 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and supported by Arts Council England.
Elle began producing music in 2020 aiming to create more authenticity in her tracks, inspired by unique artists such as James Blake, FKA twigs and Sevdaliza, she released her first produced EP in September 2022, titled ‘Into The Night’. The single ‘Hazy’ was supported by ‘The Line of Best Fit’ and Ones to watch. To date the songs she has featured on have amassed more than 7 million streams on Spotify alone.
In June 2022 Elle was asked to create a piece for the Commonwealth Games album ‘On Record B2022’. She released ‘Dynasty’ alongside a music video – aiming to put into words some of the dreams that artists in Birmingham have and how much the correct infrastructure would help the scene to thrive.
Funded by Arts Council England, Elle created an accessible performance practice after struggling to get back into music performance since having more complex health in 2017. Then most recently she was commissioned to create sound design for an up and coming podcast by Poppy Greenfield, titled ‘Call Me Disabled’. The podcast explores disabled identity and is supported by Acast.
More recently in 2024 Elle expanded on her work in creating accessible performance spaces, creating a performance called Accessible Dreamscapes, funded by Unlimited and the Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead. The show involved a long period of R&D and focus groups to unlock the best practice for accessibility both for performers and audience, which was put into practice in a stunning performance in Sage 2 in June of that year. It was later selected for a performance at the Southbank Centre’s Unlimited Festival.
Alongside her performance work, she has consistently worked on collaborations with electronic artists, and featured on tracks released by the likes of Pilot Records (UKF) and Liquicity. Through this process, she has explored genres from Drum and Bass and Deep house to more ambient genres.
In 2023 Elle was invited to play the PRS for Music stage at Glastonbury Festival. Following that, after a year out of music to focus on cancer treatment, she returned in 2024 to release the Penumbra EP. This was followed by the Umbra EP in March 2025 which was spotlighted by multiple publications including The Line of Best Fit and Hash Tag Mag.
Later that year Elle created a stunning installation called ‘The Shrouded C’ for The Level Centre in Derbyshire. The work documented her journey through cancer treatment with a focus on how her creative practice carried her through the experience and inspired her in the creation of the Umbra EP. Elle performed at the opening of the installation, which saw hundreds of people through the doors over the course of the week-long exhibit.
Alongside her creative work Elle also advocates for disabled artists in the music industry – particularly those with variable or invisible illnesses. She is an ambassador of Attitude is Everything and the Featured Artists Coalition as well as being a co-founder of Radical Body – an arts organisation that aims to make careers in the arts more accessible for disabled people.