Iyla Elise - Dark Side of My Heart

​Iyla Elise

Dark Side of My Heart
self-released; 2025

By Jamie Funk

On “Dark Side of My Heart,” Iyla Elise leans into something slicker, shinier, and more accessible than I’ve heard from her before. I’ve followed her past work, which often feels rooted in folk, jazz, blues and more, but this one veers toward pop without losing the tension or texture that makes her interesting.

It opens with a warm, almost disarming piano line, but that moment doesn't linger. She pivots quickly to acoustic guitars and close-mic’d vocals, and from there, the track becomes a balancing act between intimacy and release, softness and bite.

Distorted guitars enter at just the right moments while the tom-heavy drums give it a pulse that never feels overproduced. Each section resets itself with purpose. Elise strips things down only to rebuild with new weight and new angles. Even a mid-track bass and drum breakdown feels deliberate rather than obligatory.

​What struck me most was how confidently she navigates the changes in mood and texture. It feels like she’s carving out space for experimentation without losing clarity. “Dark Side of My Heart” doesn’t abandon what she’s done before. It stretches the frame and reveals new dimensions to her songwriting. It is a reminder that evolution does not have to mean erasure. Sometimes it just means turning the lights up in a room you have only seen by candlelight.

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