Emmy The Great: Edward EP (First Songs)
Emmy The Great: Edward EP (First Songs)
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Monday, 10, Aug 2009 11:53
Close Harbour, out now.
In a nutshell...
Honest, direct songs of loss
What's it all about?
The EP consists of songs written early in her career, newly rediscovered and recorded for this release, and follows her debut album First Love, released earlier this year.
Who's it by?
Emmy The Great is London-based singer-songwriter Emma Lee Moss. She has toured extensively over the past few years, including Glastonbury and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, exciting the interest of national newspapers and magazines.
As an example...
"You threw him out in the cold like the hair clinging off of a brush/When you were finished you know he was nobody else's to love/And I remember he told me that every time that you touched/Your skin was like a bowl collecting blood." - Bowl Collecting Blood
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
It is a bit early for full-on mainstream success. More likely this EP will further consolidate the fanbase Emmy The Great has been building through her live dates and recent debut album.
What the others say
"At times the Edward EP surpasses parts of First Love, particularly on its lead track." - Drowned In Sound
So is it any good?
Presented relatively straight-up on little more than acoustic guitar, autobiographical near-folk music like this will inevitably live or die on the strength of the songwriting. Potentially worrying therefore that this EP consists of early songs Emmy initially discarded and never even considered for her debut album.
Such concerns are immediately forgotten, however, upon hearing the beautiful and deeply honest ruminations on love, loss and grief that make up Edward Is Deadwood, the lilting and wistful melody of Bowl Collecting Blood and the misleadingly jaunty Two Steps Forward.
Unfortunately the final track of the EP, Canopies and Drapes, is a more frustrating mix of the banal and the brilliant. Lines like "I feel worse than when S Club 7 broke up" are a bit much, either to be taken as kooky or ironic, and the pop music references are laboured and overdone. But at the same time it contains wonderful lines about the Magnetic Fields and "shaking in the knowledge that the mattress holds your shape".
Overall, these early songs were well worth re-visiting, both for Emmy and for us, and form an excellent introduction to her beautifully engaging Laura Marling-esque voice and serious song-writing talent.
7/10
Steve Braund