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Not A Stranger is the fourth album from Ela Stiles, the acclaimed local artist known for solo explorations of folk and electronic genres as well as her work with bands like Songs and Bushwalking. On this new LP Stiles embraces "orchestral grandeur, dark pulsating dance floor bangers, euphoric pop hooks and intimate ballads", signalling a bold new era for the artist. Influences are diverse, spanning global folk sounds to industrial textures.

In a recent interview with Jazz Feldy on Good Fortune, Stiles described her songwriting process: "My way of writing is pretty much to make a beat, record a basic melody and then I do toplining, which is singing whatever, anything, but just getting the rhythm and the melody down. And then for me I just fit words in."

Stiles also touched on the development of the record: "'I've been working on it since 2017...I think it's good that it took that long because otherwise it wouldn't be the same record. I learnt a lot of things and I learnt a lot of production stuff.'

The extended creative process has resulted in a captivating collection. Not A Stranger balances lush pop melodies and soaring vocals, with moments of restraint and more experimental song structures.