Emmy the Great: now living up to her name!
If there is one artist that I’ve really turned around on over the past year, it’s Emmy the Great. It was quite a few years ago that I first heard her, and I liked a couple of songs right from the start, but never got on with most of them. I suspect I was being too quick to judge given it was the slower, more involved songs that I initially stayed away from. I probably should have persisted, but didn’t until about a year ago.
I think it was her set at Reading last year that really won me over. I didn’t know many of the songs that she played, but being right at the front, with excellent sound and appreciative audience, and something seemed to click. I went back to those songs that I ignored the first time and found myself enjoying them a lot more. A few months ago I got First Love, her first full length album, and while there is the odd misstep, it’s one of my favourites of the year.
We Almost Had A Baby is taken from that album, albeit in a slightly different form to the version below. It’s a tale that is rather darker than it initially sounds, with her going over a slightly bitter breakup and wishing she was pregnant so she had something to hold over him. It’s not exactly your typical song material, but it’s that which is the appeal in what Emmy does. Stories littered with believable characters are the showcases here. Something which now seems to be all too rare.
Emmy the Great will be playing at the Southbank Centre on July 19 as part of their Summer Gigs season, ably supported by Aidan Moffat. The Edwards EP will be release on August 10 via Close Harbour.
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