Elkka

Hailing from Cardiff, Wales, the producer and DJ Elkka forged her signature approach to electronica through its warm, euphoric, and upbeat qualities, which first reached a broad audience via the 2021 single “Burnt Orange.” She entered the scene with the 2016 EP HER, then continued across the following years with further EPs while founding the label and collective femme culture, an outlet that hosts queer club nights and the HeForShe EP series supporting UN Women. Her first full-length album, Prism of Pleasure, appeared in 2024.

Cardiff native Emma Kirby initially worked as a pop-driven songwriter before discovering her path in electronic music, shaped by artists such as Imogen Heap and Laurie Anderson. In 2016 she moved from session contributions into production, adopting the name Elkka and launching femme culture as a record label, artist collective, and party series committed to an inclusive dancefloor; HER, her debut EP on the label, followed in November of that year.

With a hybrid electronica style anchored by her own evocative vocals, Kirby spent 2018 hosting radio shows before releasing the uplifting “Stay (Warm Edit)” and the second EP Full Circle. The thoughtful, euphoric foundation of her sound carried into the third EP, Every Body Is Welcome (2019), setting the stage for “Burnt Orange” to become her first breakout single in 2021. That year proved decisive: she issued the two vibrant EPs Euphoric Melodies and Harmonic Frequencies on Technicolour, received BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix of the Year award, won the Association of Independent Music’s Best Independent Remix award for her version of Ela Minus’ “Megapunk,” and earned a nomination for DJ Mag’s Best Breakthrough Producer.

Moving toward faster tempos and stronger dancefloor emphasis aligned with her 2021 direction, Elkka released “I Just Want to Love You” in 2022 and then prepared her own edition of the DJ-Kicks series, delivering the 28-track DJ-Kicks: Elkka in April 2023. The campaign for her debut album opened with the 2024 singles “Passionfruit” and “Make Me,” leading to the June arrival of Prism of Pleasure.