Biography
From years in his youth spent compiling mix tapes of classical, grunge, and electronic recordings to experiments in sonically eclectic, conceptual language, Daniel Elms’ distinctive voice in 21st-century music unashamedly obscures the distinctions between composer and producer, between classical rigour and electroacoustic explorations in sound.
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“Luminous” – The Telegraph
“Monolithic” – Bach Track
“Emotionally powerful” – Seen and Heard
An accomplished guitarist and composer, Daniel’s Masters scholarship at the Royal College of Music, under Kenneth Hesketh and Joseph Horowitz, was generously supported by AHRC Design Star and The Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Elms was a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s ‘Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance’, and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund’s ‘Emerging Excellence Award’.
Elms’ prominence as an artist began with his first album Islandia, released in 2017 on Brooklyn-based label New Amsterdam Records. Islandia is a remarkable set of five works: Islandia, The Old Declarn, Soft Machines, North Sea Quartet, and Bethia. All five were written for chamber orchestra, electric guitar, synthesisers and found sounds, recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
Bethia specifically was originally commissioned by the British Film Institute as part of Hull City of Culture 2017 and PRS Foundation’s ‘New Music Biennial’. It is a work that contains and embodies the history and atmosphere of Elms’ hometown of Hull: fragments of maritime shanties, work songs and hymns within a tidal wash of tone clusters and shimmering electronics that swell and subside with the shriek of gulls and the pealing of Hull Minster’s bells.
Works from the album, including Soft Machines and North Sea Quartet, have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Unclassified’, ‘Night Tracks’, and ‘In Tune’. Islandia topped Apple Music’s classical playlist, and Elms went on to tour the album across the UK with the support of Manchester Collective [External link: https://manchestercollective.co.uk], forming a collaborative creative relationship with the group that remains to this day.
In 2018, Manchester Collective commissioned Elms’ next project, the visceral 100 Demons . A truly unnerving otherworldly audio experience, 100 Demons is as disorienting as it is rewarding.
“It was spectacular, but God it shook us” – Chris Flack, Getintothis
In 2022, his symphonic work Consolations in Travel , commissioned by the BBC Concert Orchestra, premiered at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Broadcast on a special edition of BBC Radio 3’s ‘Unclassified Live’, this work is emblematic of Elms’ current voice. The orchestra is brought into dialogue with loops cut from cassette compilations made by Elms as a teenager. The music is distinctly of this century, but coloured, mediated and expanded with technology.
Outside of the concert hall and traditional orchestral spaces, Daniel Elms has also contributed to a variety of creative projects. In 2023, he wrote additional music across the breadth of Robert Eggers’ feature film Nosferatu as well as providing music production and orchestration. This score was nominated for the 2024 BAFTA for ‘Best Original Music’. Daniel was also music producer on Eggers’ The Northman for Robin Carolan (Tri Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel). Alongside composer Max Richter, Daniel wrote additional music for Tom Hardy’s and Ridley Scott’s Taboo, which was Emmy-nominated for best score.
Elms contributed his technical abilities, including recording, production and editing, to the J.J. Abrams’ 11.22.63 (2016), the captivating Promise at Dawn (2017), HBO’s My Brilliant Friend (2018), the Academy-Award nominated Never Look Away (2018), and most recently the inimitable financial drama Industry (2020).
A keen collaborator, Daniel produced Blind Monarch’s debut album What Is Imposed Must Be Endured and their sophomore album The Dead Replenish the Earth — two records that have made waves in the UK’s underground doom metal and sludge scenes. From 2018 through 2022, Daniel collaborated with choreographer Alexander Whitley on The Age of Spiritual Machines, a piece in which the two artists stripped away the technology regularly employed by each to reveal the soft tissue of movement and music beneath. The work premiered at the Southbank Centre in 2022, toured nationally, and forms one of three tracks on Daniel’s most recent album Collected Works 2018-22, which was released with collaborators and Icelandic record label Bedroom Community.
Daniel’s latest collaboration is Trace Monument: a duet of electric guitars and synthesisers, created with Adam Blyth of Blind Monarch. Trace Monument’s debut album Hollow Land released in early 2026 on Shadow World Archive, and the duo will be touring England later in the year.
At present, Daniel Elms resides in England. He is currently working on several major unannounced projects, including a new commission by Manchester Collective with an anticipated release of 2028.
Daniel Elms is represented by Hot Salvation Management and talent agent Air-Edel. His music is published by Wise Music.