Emika: Debut Album Review
Words: Babooshka
Images: Christoph Voy
18/09/11
No surprises here, the self-titled debut from Emika is simply brilliant; haunting, ethereal and hook laden in mystery, showcasing a talent with a fearless approach to producing and performing that is unique and welcome in the current tidal wave of crossover electronica.
It is the sort of unblinkered approach to music that pulls from her own mixed English/Czech background and draws on influences from Bristol 'house' and 'dubstep' to Berlin's 'techno'. Emika's inspiration goes way back into the archives of electro pioneering with her love of BBC Radiophonic Workshop and some of the first generation electro musicians yet 'unsticking' a genre sometimes fastened to the past, taking the best bits and placing it firmly in the future for a wider audience of music fans of all ages. Am I gushing, yes well Emika is worthy.
Having fallen head over heels with her early single ' Count Backwards' earlier in 2011, it was a much anticipated and excited wait for more releases and the recent double A single 'Pretend/Professional Loving' really did not disappoint. Along with Austra, Emika has proved EY's busiest interest of the year and is proof that there is more than enough room for the classic synth pop and the more leftfield experimental electro.
The only problem with reviewing an album this good is that you just want to sit and listen to it and it's often too tempting to merely say 'amazing, now go buy it'... but now for the tracks. The opener '3 hours' is currently and well deservedly all over radio playlists this week and being ripped for eager fans online. It's a building track with muted vocals lying over and under the instrumentation simultaneously resulting in a rich sound warming up with bass that vibrates to your core.
'Common Exchange' is my favourite amongst tracks that are consistently strong making it hard to choose; it however was immediate and the sort you flick straight back on for a repeat of the spine tingling overload of your senses, yes really that good. The intro has a definite Depeche Mode feel to it, breaking into lighter vocalising from Emika, changing the pace and layering the music in deep and resonating ways interspersing charming ivory tinkling at unexpected times.
'Professional Loving' is a strong seductive soundscape of creative enslavement and frustration resulting in a moody, down tempo filmic quality. The drama and darkness finalised with a strangely haunting piano close, something that Emika seems to use more than occasionally, a nod to her classical training and expertise at merging different styles and genres of music.
' Be My Guest' feels to me like the album's intermission, its Portishead like spookiness putting stories of alien sighting and crop circles onto manuscript. Basically, it's kind of strange and hard to explain sending you into eerie realm with a chance breather at all the glitchy catchiness gone before and about to come.
'Count Backwards' is just shadowy perfection, a musical panic attack of countdown to calm within avant-guard creativity. Emika's vocal shapeshift from creepy whispers to deep penetrating tones within uncomfortably pleasurable listening provoke and draw you into her madness.
' Double Edge' wakes you with its jerky movement and clubs up the feel just a margin showing the diversity of her imagination and then throws you headlong into ' Pretend' which boasts some of the best live footage seen in a while. The pretence is coldly vocalised along side some stark music with emotion simmering below the surface, this double A side with 'Professional Loving' being the perfectly seducing teaser for this album.
' The Long Goodbye' is a wail of melancholy, a tribal and divine feel not dissimilar to air of Fever Ray's solo creativity. Strange and otherworldly, 'At any given time'... anything could happen in this track. Finishing nicely with a Knife like vocal distortion and soaring depths of femininity showing off Emika's range. Yes, you kind of lose yourself in random thoughts with this one. ' FM Attention' moves on with the distortion, a horror movie soundtrack of claustrophobia, sitting in waiting for you ready with an onslaught of glitchy footsteps.
'Drop the Other' and ' Come Catch Me' change the pace again and move back into more melodic yet erring on genius in its uniqueness, flirting with a more clubby feel again yet maintaining unpredictability. The whole album ends with a wonderfully self-indulgent piano epilogue, grandly earmarked ' Credit Theme', a beautifully simple come down that grounds and puts your feet back on earth.
Emika's debut is a seduction of the senses, musically a celebration in originality and quite simply amazing. Now go buy it.
Tim Rushent emailed EY a few weeks back asking if it would be possible for his family to view the old Secrets-Online content including the interview transcripts from magazine such as The Face.
A huge and extensive site, Secrets-Online ran from 2001 to 2007 but the League content was jettisoned to free up space. Upon receiving Tim's email, we frantically began a long search here at EY HQ for old CDRs that would hopefully contain the original files for the old site. Sadly, it soon became clear that they too had been junked but thankfully, the very useful online research tool called The Wayback Machine had archived most of Secrets -Online between 2001 & 07. We've managed to screencap most of the original images and transfer the old text to the current EY template and create a micro-site in honour of Sir Martin Rushent and his iconic golden era of The Human League.
Martin's two League albums and all but one of his singles are reviewed with extensive images and one or two very rare pics - plus 1988 comments from the League and we will add details about the forthcoming 30th Anniversary Edition of 'Dare' to the micro-site as soon as we have them.
We were also able to salvage two interviews from The Face with one containing this quote from Philip Oakey when he was asked about Martin: 'I think he's fabulous. He's one of those modern guys who wants you to think all he cares about is money. He's always going on about how his business does this or his company does that and he doesn't care about people. Then he turns up at the hotel with his wife and kids. He doesn't go anywhere without his kids, this hard man'.
