meg elsier expands on her debut album with “spittake (deluxe)”

photo by Jacq Justice

Indie rocker meg elsier is back with the deluxe version of her debut album, spittake, out now via Bright Antenna Records. The extended edition contains 17 tracks, including unreleased demos, live recordings, and intimate B-sides, and offers a welcome return to the album a year out from its initial release.

While the original spittake introduced elsier’s blend of shoegaze textures, grungy guitars, and sharp lyricism, the expanded release shows an unfiltered side to the artist. It offers a deeper look into the creativity of the album, embracing the messy, emotional, and deeply human process behind it.

“These B-sides, these demos, this deluxe – it’s a celebration of all the little choices that made ‘spittake’ what it is,” elsier explains. “Creating is such a vulnerable playground. It’s a place to make mistakes. It’s a place to try these characters and voices and performances without anyone watching. I wanted to show how much beauty can exist in the unfinished and imperfect.”

That spirit radiates throughout the deluxe track list, and is perhaps most audible on “run [oldsong],” the oldest song from the bunch. “When I played it live, a hush would fall over the room. A kind of holy reverberation,” says elsier about the song. The demo of the song can be found on spittake (deluxe) as well, offering insight into the evolution of the track. “We kept all the original stems. We didn’t want to rethink it. We wanted this version of ‘run’ to stem from the work we did as a group, as friends,” says elsier.

Zany Waves had the chance to chat with elsier at the end of 2024, where she shared about the creative process behind spittake and about playing live shows. Read the full interview here.

spittake (deluxe) is out now on streaming platforms, and limited vinyl editions are available for pre-order.