Before she was Party Nails, Elana Carroll was a guitar-toting songwriter, playing any open mic she could near her hometown of Chatham, New York. Performing solo or with a band of seasoned players backing her up, she wailed lyrics about her family’s divorce, dreams of leaving her small town, and a then-undiagnosed anxiety disorder across biker bars and community centers. At home, she recorded herself with Garageband, instigating a love of music technology that continues to this day.
Her latest offering, “Someway, Somehow” arrives during her west coast tour with Gloomy June, and is a cinematic ear massage ripe with vocal harmonies, fuzzed guitars, and a hook that pronounces boundless, timeless love. “This song feels like something I found. Like it always existed. Like I was on a walk and found it under a rock as if it were a fossil waiting to be found. It’s about the complete, full, forever love you feel for your partner, your parent, your child, your friend, humanity. The deep knowing that you will never, ever stop, in spite of all obstacles.”
Party Nails debuted in 2015 on Neon Gold’s famed blog with “Break”, a heartbreak dance-pop single clearly inspired by happy-sad classics such as “Dancing On My Own” and “Blue Monday”. In 2016 on Vice’s Noisey blog Party Nails debuted “No Pressure”—think Haim instrumentation paired with Taylor Swift melodies—before leaving a 360 deal and rebuilding independently. Her first full-length, Past Lives and Paychecks, was equal parts collaborations—Caleb Shreve, Ryan Nasci, Mereki Beach, among others—and self-produced, engineering and playing guitar, bass, synthesizers, and programming electronics alone in her home studio. Her first US tour in 2017 (with PVRIS and Lights) ushered in a devoted fanbase. Her live performances continue to be a core facet of her artistry, being in equal parts Madonna, Hayley Williams, and Sheryl Crow. However, in the studio, her muses are Robyn, Prince, SZA, and Dolly Parton, to name a few.
Since 2020 Party Nails has penned a song about period pride for Kathryn Hahn’s character to sing for Loren Bouchard’s Apple animated series Central Park, wrote and produced the Le Tigre-infused “Supernatural” for feminist rock duo Deap Vally, and continued to lend her vocals to other musicians including LŪN and Urban Heat.
For further details on the band and forthcoming tour dates visit:
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