A Conversation with Elmiene En Route to the Release of his Debut Album, 'sounds for someone'
Evan Dale | March 10, 2026
Universal Music
There are voices that feel familiar, even when tuning in for the first time. They’re steeped in a vast vulnerability that at first feels crystalline and almost devoid of imperfection before opening up as something already entrenched – tethered with a relatable rawness – to a listener’s own consciousness. Oxford born Elmiene carries just such a rare sonic silkiness, hand-in-hand with a deft touch that makes him a force of timelessness and familiarity along the ever-evolving UK Soul-R&B spectrum.
There’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard him before. The soaring falsettos that float overtop the mostly acoustic backdrops of his debut EP release, EL-MEAN from March of 2023 reached audiences far and wide, and for good reason. Quickly, a barrage releases – including breakout 2023 single, Someday, and explosive 2024 EP, Anyway I Can – continued to pulsate his high notes and emotional depth further throughout the global soulscape.
And yet, inspired by the greats that, too, have long been defined by the indefinable roots of human emotion rather than some sort of sonic specificity, his space as a soul artist has meant that self-evolution allows for progression outside the boundaries of traditional genre. There are undeniably elements of his sound that bleed of Neo-Soul’s origins, or 90’s R&B. But for everything in his music that can be traced to some nuance of the past, the emerging mosaic of his uniqueness is ultimately – and modernly – one-of-one.
En route to the March 27 release of what will be his proper debut album, sounds of someone, we connected with Elmiene to discuss his roots, his heroes, and what he wants his fans to understand about him upon hearing it.
'I think all I really want is that this album can give me freedom to express myself however I want...'
Universal Music
RINGLEADER: As an artist and an individual, you exist as a bridge between different physical and auditory spaces. There’s a tether between your Sudanese roots and your life in the UK. There’s a confluence in your sound between R&B’s Golden Era and the wave of modern R&B/soul artists entrenching the movement in the UK. For you, on the verge of your debut album's release, how do you hope it introduces your unique dualities sonically and personally?
ELMIENE: The only thing I can hope for is that with this album, people can expect me to be a free sounding artist. I think all I really want is that this album can give me freedom to express myself however I want. I want to just escape whatever box I might have been falling into – if I even was.
I want people to not really expect what comes out next from my mouth, but have faith that it will be good music. That's all I can hope for. All my heroes had that. Prince had that. Stevie had that. D’Angelo had that. As soon as the next album comes, listeners are like, ‘I did not expect this, but I'm here for it. I believe in this artist, where I can let him hold my hand and take me on a journey.’