EMMY THE GREAT - FIRST LOVE
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Artist:
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Album:
'First Love' is Emmy the Great's debut album. It is described by the press release as 'a debut album of savage observations and stark admissions, cloaked in arrangements of disarming simplicity and beguiling melody'. Admittedly I was excited by this (rather arrogant) statement, but I also thought I had an idea of the sort of person this 'Emmy' is - one of those beings who think that they're 'wacky' and 'zany' because they listen to Radio 4, drink green tea and read Shakespeare. This would be forgiveable if the album was a top notch piece of work but unfortunately I found myself drifting into slumber less than halfway through.
Absentee, the first song, pretty much reveals the tone of the album; her sound is similar to that of the phenomenally talented Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, the intriguing Laura Marling and the deplorable Noah and the Whale. For want of a better term folk infused with country. The whole album, in three words, is just plain obvious, occasionally a male backing singer strains his vocal chords for the purpose of 'harmonies', it contains predictably pretentious and meaningless lyrics - 'savage observations' include 'I am a woman, before I met you I was a girl' and 'I was only a baby, now I'm what you made me', with irritating bells, chimes and violin strings screeching in the background.
One song - 'First Love' actually sounds like plagiarism with Leonard Cohen type (or more familiar to the thick, Alexandra Burke type) 'Hallelujah's' being squealed at us, in a voice which, at the beginning of the record sounds soothing but soon becomes flat and toneless to the ear due to overuse and lack of key changes. This has the effect of incurring states of extreme tedium upon the listener.
Each song sounds the same, if it wasn't for the breaks between the end of one track and the start of another it would be one gigantic shrieking racket, I found myself longing for the end of each song, and felt hugely relieved when I reached the end of the album. The vocal melody never seems to differ and each song, without fail, has an introduction of strings halfway through, possibly in a fruitless attempt to add emotion to a cold bottomless pit of an album. I'd say that the best song is 'Bad Things Coming, We Are Safe', just because that has a bit of catchiness to it, the only song where the moaning isn't entirely prominent.
When the end of track thirteen arrived (amidst a stream of tacky back singing) I thrust my arms into the air with joy - I will NEVER have to listen to that EVER again. Oh well, perhaps it's made especially for people who are into this 'folk n roll' craze that's recently risen; maybe its not-so-alternative-any-more sound is conspired to fit in with the specifications of the Mercury Music Prize shortlist; or perhaps it's just not my cup of green tea.
By Tom Wodzianski
Rating: 2/10
Format: Album
Release Date: 02/02/09
Label: Close Harbour
www.myspace.com/emmythegreat
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Comments (2)
i am so sick of trying to get opinions from people who sound like they're 15 years old.
I come on these sites because I am interested in finding out about new artists but it seems all you're more likely to find out about people who have just written their first reviews.
if I wanted to find out what it's like to listen to this album while doing your GCSE's I will get my 16 year old cousin to download it.
Totally unhelpful.
hey charlie, i think they put a lot of time into writing reviews. although you might not think it is valuable, others probably walk away w/ info that they didn't know before. and there are plenty of posts to scroll through so hopefully you'll find some you like :)
NOIZE, i appreciated this review and had not heard more than a couple of songs by Emmy the Great. thank you!