Troya makes the intimate feel expansive on debut album «La habitación de Elena»
Troya, the project led by Gijón songwriter Elena del Frade, releases La habitación de Elena through Humo Internacional on 26 October 2026.
Sometimes a bedroom is an entire universe. On «La habitación de Elena», Troya turns a private space into the setting for songs about growing up, uncertainty and finding a voice. Released on 26 October 2026 through Humo Internacional, the debut album is available digitally and on vinyl.
Troya is the project of Gijón-born musician Elena del Frade. Although this is her first full-length release, it is not her first encounter with live music. At eight, she began performing with Las Eléctricas, a children’s group connected to the Sonidópolis music school, a creative environment with links to musicians from Nosoträsh, Undershakers and Penelope Trip.
Troya’s sound: sparse guitars and dreamlike electronics
Troya took shape as a project in 2023. Elena del Frade’s musical world is built around restrained guitar parts, dreamlike synthesizers and a drum machine that retains the character of a homemade demo. These elements serve a songwriting style that feels intimate without being limited to small-scale arrangements. Reducing the record to bedroom pop would miss that sense of ambition.
The bedroom is a perspective rather than a boundary. Themes of friendship, distrust and the transition out of adolescence provide the emotional setting, but melodies and textures carry those concerns beyond autobiography. That interplay between vulnerability and musical curiosity is a more interesting starting point than the label’s name on the sleeve.
Bedroom pop with a wider horizon
The album draws on the emotional terrain of adolescence and the sometimes uncomfortable transition beyond it. Yet the music is presented as something more ambitious than quiet confessions recorded indoors. These are personal songs designed to stand on their own as pop compositions, with melodic detail and the kind of vulnerability that can reach well beyond the person who wrote them.
Clairo, Fiona Apple, Sufjan Stevens and Laurie Anderson appear among the touchstones in the release material. They suggest an appetite for both direct songwriting and more adventurous textures rather than one rigid stylistic box.
Beyond the bedroom, a band built on friendship
Troya is also a collective live experience. Elena’s sister Inés del Frade is part of the band, alongside Lucía Corte and Ariane Álvarez. The project embraces the idea that making music together should not depend on advanced technical training. That spirit of learning and friendship adds a different dimension to songs rooted in private feelings.
«La habitación de Elena» was released on 26 October on digital platforms and vinyl. A concert is scheduled for 10 December at Wurlitzer in Madrid, with Pablo y los Ciervos Dorados. Those shows will offer a chance to discover how this intimate material develops when shared on stage.
Troya’s debut makes a compelling case for Elena del Frade’s songwriting. It brings an emerging musical identity into view, from the details of everyday life to melodies designed to travel beyond them.