{"id":445180,"date":"2026-09-23T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T14:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/445180\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T14:24:08","slug":"plano-native-elliott-skinner-releases-debut-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/445180\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano native Elliott Skinner releases debut EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 20 years, Elliott Skinner<\/a> has been building something. You just might not have known his name yet.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve caught a set by Jon Batiste, Leon Bridges<\/a>, Chance the Rapper or Amos Lee over the last decade, there\u2019s a decent chance Skinner was somewhere in the mix \u2014 playing bass, layering harmonies, holding down the parts that make a song breathe. The Plano-raised, Booker T. Washington alum spent his twenties as one of music\u2019s most reliable collaborators. Now, with his debut solo EP \u201cHow Far We\u2019ve Come\u201d out via Ninja Tune, he\u2019s stepping to the front of the stage and, fittingly, opening the record with a track called \u201cAn Introduction.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wise choice, and a patient one. Six songs, roughly 20 minutes and no filler. The EP arrives two decades after Skinner wrote his first song \u2014 proof that some artists ripen rather than rush<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

You’re all set.<\/p>\n

CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

That ripening started here at home. When we rang Skinner up mid-tour, he was quick to credit North Texas for the artist he has become.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always talk about being grateful that I\u2019m from Texas, because when I think about genre, I think about culture,\u201d he told us. \u201cThere\u2019s such a well of great artists and a great history of artists from Texas, and specifically from Dallas as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

His musical education began in church \u2014 choir, then praise and worship, then leading worship \u2014 before Booker T. cracked something open.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was this moment of being surrounded by other young people making art who wanted to be artists,\u201d he said, laughing about wearing \u201cmaybe one too many vests\u201d as he figured out who he was. \u201cThat sort of freedom to discover ourselves\u2026 I think it\u2019s so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can hear all of it on the EP. The southern fingerpicking style he absorbed growing up runs through every guitar line. And those 18 years of choir? They didn\u2019t go anywhere. Skinner describes his approach as \u201cguitar orchestration,\u201d stacking layers the way a choir director stacks voices \u2014 different figures moving through each piece like sections of a much larger ensemble.<\/p>\n

The sound of being held<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Far We\u2019ve Come\u201d opens with birdsong and footsteps, a deep-D-string acoustic guitar rolling in beneath a choir of welcoming, gorgeously off-kilter \u201coohs\u201d and \u201caahs.\u201d It gathers into something more contemporary for the kind of sonic real estate Frank Ocean tends to own. That in-between space is exactly where Skinner wants you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always like to play with the external versus the internal,\u201d he explained. \u201cThere\u2019s this sonic space that sits right between \u2014 when you\u2019re listening to it, it feels like you\u2019re in this huge room, or it feels like a space inside your head, like an infinite space.\u201d<\/p>\n

His vocal production chases a specific feeling, one that feels familiar and new at the same time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want this to feel like someone hugging you and whispering in your ear, a reminder that you need it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u201cDON\u2019T BE A RUNNER\u201d shifts the EP\u2019s mood entirely. Though not lyrically dense, the kind of groove you throw on while the coffee brews and the day organizes itself around you. \u201cTime never lasted\/Struggle don\u2019t last always,\u201d he sings. <\/p>\n

Then comes the heart of the EP. \u201cWhat Kind of Friend Am I\u201d plays like a poem set to music with slowly plucked strings and keyboard notes broken by small, deliberate disruptions \u2014 an off note here, an abrupt turn there, even the sounds of a baby drifting through the arrangement. He sings, \u201cWhat kind of friend am I to leave your side?\u201d It\u2019s an aching question, and Skinner refuses to smooth it over. He keeps you leaned in.<\/p>\n

Cool isn\u2019t the same as true<\/p>\n

That instinct \u2014 trusting the moment over perfected polish \u2014 is central to how Skinner works. He told us he tries to build each song around what it actually needs, not around what might sound impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in that space where you\u2019re focused on trying to make things sound catchy or cool,\u201d he admitted. \u201cAnd you can get to a point where, yeah, it sounds cool, but what does it mean? What is this for?\u201d <\/p>\n

His safeguard is a kind of monastic separation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe creation of the work has to be completely separate from any idea of success or industry or accolade or acceptance,\u201d he said. \u201cThe process of making the music has to be a pure need for release, a need for expression, a need for community and collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCarols of My Mind,\u201d the EP\u2019s focus track featuring Victoria Canal and Radamiz, is the most experimental moment here \u2014 spacious, searching, questions stacked on questions. It\u2019s the sound of a mind picking itself apart in the most beautiful way possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cTHAT KID,\u201d featuring Jensen McRae, is the big vocal showcase on the project. Their voices travel from Tracy Chapman warmth into something rawer and reachier, closer to The Tallest Man on Earth. Skinner and McRae wrote and recorded the vocals in a hotel room while on tour with Amos Lee, and they left them exactly as they landed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat song is about intimacy and learning and process,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cThe moment we were in was the best delivery of those words.\u201d <\/p>\n

That in-the-moment approach translates well, as lyrics like\u201cSo nice to see your face again\u201d land like a memory you didn\u2019t know you\u2019d been missing.<\/p>\n

The set closes with \u201cCarry the Devil\u2019s Side,\u201d which bounces and trucks along with the buoyant energy of Bombay Bicycle Club or Vampire Weekend before dissolving, in its final 30 seconds, into stripped-down poetry. You can hear the influences, and then you hear Skinner bend them into his own creature entirely, beauty wrestling with ambition.<\/p>\n

Come home soon<\/p>\n

For Skinner, all of it circles back to a single purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic has been such a tool for me to understand myself and to understand other people,\u201d he said. \u201cI have to keep doing it to stay connected \u2014 to myself, to community, to reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s currently crisscrossing North America opening for French singer-songwriter anaiis<\/a>. There are no Dallas dates on the books just yet \u2014 but when we mentioned it, his answer was immediate: \u201cI\u2019d love to play in Dallas soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he currently calls Denmark home these days, the city that shaped him will be waiting. Look how far he\u2019s come.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Far We\u2019ve Come\u201d is now available to stream on all music platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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