EMA plays the Garrison July 23. See listing Rating: NNNN
The debut solo album by ex-Gowns singer EMA (aka Erika M. Anderson) is already being called one of the best releases of the year, and it’s easy to see why. To put it mildly, Past Life Martyred Saints is a very intense record, but incredibly rewarding. There are the urgent, raw emotions of early PJ Harvey and Patti Smith, but also traces of Fever Ray’s synthetic otherworldliness, wrapped around a sonic palette of screaming guitar feedback, acoustic strumming and digital distortion that’s all her own.
EMA’s not the first to play with combining folk, noise, electronics and pop. In her case, though, the songs don’t come across as tentative experiments, but rather as fully formed, confident artistic statements. When she strips everything down to just layers of her own voice on Coda, you realize her appeal comes more from the heart-wrenching songwriting and delivery than from any clever studio wizardry. It’s not always the most comfortable thing to listen to, but like the proverbial car crash, it’s hard to tear yourself away.
Top track: Marked
