Ela Minus makes beats for ‘dancing and crying’

A lot of music these days is created without any instruments; just one person and a laptop.

Colombian artist Ela Minus is trying to bring the human touch to a largely electronic music scene.

“I actually studied coding for a long time,” Minus told Morning Edition host A Martinez. “I started getting very, very used to the sound of laptops. So I was just looking for a different sound, and I found hardware synthesizers, meaning there’s an actual instrument – separate from a computer – that has piano keys.”

Minus – whose real name is Gabriela Jimeno Caldas – says she’s been pressured to give up the bulky, analog synthesizers. “If I’m completely honest, it’s mostly come from male engineers that are, like, ‘Why are you carrying all of this around? You [should] just get a laptop.’ My question is always: Why?” she said. “The answer has never been convincing enough.”

Ela Minus grew up in Bogotá, where she played drums in a punk band. She then came to Boston’s Berklee College of Music to study percussion, but she found her true inspiration in that city’s dance clubs.

Ela Minus’s new album is called DÍA and was released earlier this month. Musically, its sounds are rich and layered; the beats are fierce and joyous. But lyrically, Minus leans toward melancholy, describing the combination as “dancing and crying.”

“My music has a lot of juxtaposition. I’m the type of person that – when you tell me something really sad, I laugh. Probably out of nervousness, probably out of not knowing how to react.”

She says that’s gotten her into a lot of trouble with significant others or friends.

“The person will get madder, and then I’m laughing more, and then they just keep getting more offended. I mean, it’s not great. I’ve gotten better.” It even inspired her to write one of her new songs, “I Want To Be Better.”

Minus is on tour with her new album, with various dates in Europe before returning to the U.S. in March.