Emma-Lee, a beautiful little songbird out of Toronto, has just released a new album called Never Just A Dream. The above track, ‘That Sinking Feeling’, for your listening pleasure, is off of this new album. I certainly hope it inspires you to go check her out live - absolutely worth your while!
The foundation of Never Just A Dream is built on a collection of songs inspired by the sort of heartache that is universal to anyone who has lived a life worth living. The sound is at times swingin’ jazz, at others dreamy 50’s pop, with hints of folk and blues all delivered by a voice rich and sweet as a red velvet cupcake. In the years penning Never Just a Dream she listened to a lot of AM oldies radio, drawing on the power of disguising the complex with the kind of familiarity that warms you up like an episode of Leave it to Beaver on a snow day.
Matters of the heart certainly run rampant on the album – most obvious of which is the epic “Flow”. A girl is left to sublet the apartment of her globe-trotting ex-boyfriend while she is left with muddy thoughts, knee-deep in their memories. She relents; “My head will rest where yours belongs/Your sheets will hold me while your hands are gone/And sleep won’t be easy/I’m crazy, I know/But I just flow.”
But not every tune on Never Just a Dream is a wistful school girl’s diary entry. Tracks like “An Older Man” show that Emma-Lee is all grown up and simultaneously gives hope to over-the-hill fellas across the nation. The title track – complete with haunting male backing vocals and Lynchian sax solo suggests darker tones and hints at regret of mistakes gone-by. The cinematic closer “Until We Meet Again” is a wild-card flashing promise of an intriguing career that’s only just beginning.
In the fragile opening track, “Bruise Easy” she coos, “It’s hard to love a girl wearing sorrow.” If it sounds like she knows what she’s singing about, she does. For the better part of two years Never Just A Dream was almost just that; a dream. Emma-Lee has endured a double shot of a young singer’s worst nightmare; a lump on her thyroid in 2006 chased with a polyp on her vocal cords in 2007. The first surgery required half of her thyroid to be removed – the most significant risk? Vocal cord paralysis. Almost one year later to the day revealed a totally unrelated polyp on her vocal cords which would require another operation and put her near-completed album on hold yet again. Two successful surgeries later her voice healed fully and she sprinted into the studio with bells on, proving it would take a lot more than a scalpel to stop her.
It’s that kind of dedication and unwavering faith that sets Emma-Lee apart. Unlike the stories of many of today’s rising stars whose talent for music was evident at a young age, Emma-Lee didn’t truly shine until her late teens. While she grew up the daughter of musical parents and the sister of a gifted jazz guitarist she kept her secret hidden, saying only that she was shy about her voice. Though she started playing guitar at 14, she didn’t start seriously writing songs until she was 20, and didn’t set foot on a stage until 2004. Now 25 years-old, Emma-Lee’s music shows a confidence that would make even her most veteran contemporaries smile. She’s been nominated for Best Female Artist & Best Jazz Artist at Toronto’s Independent Music Awards, has placed in the Top-10 of Toronto’s Mix 99.9 FM’s Songwriting Contest and has had her songs used in four different films. After releasing two EPs, the birth of Never Just A Dream was a natural evolution. In early 2007 she secured the highly competitive Popular Music Recording Grant from the Ontario Arts Council, once again re-affirming her chosen path. Through a strong web presence, memorable live shows and good old fashioned hard work, Emma-Lee has steadily built a loyal fan-base one heart at a time.
Emma-Lee’s ambition is anchored deeply in her love to simply create. Since 2006 Emma-Lee has run a music photography business that all started with her incredible ability to take self portraits - a vital part to how she shares her secret-self throughout her album artwork. She is also co-founder of Toronto-based music collective GoodSoundsGood.
Upcoming shows:
14 Aug 2008 20:30 Centre St. Ambroise with BAPTISTE! Montreal, Quebec
15 Aug 2008 21:00 Irene’s Pub with MATT OUIMET! Ottawa, Ontario
21 Aug 2008 20:00 The Supermarket - Benefit for SKETCH! Toronto, Ontario
28 Aug 2008 20:00 The Freeway *All Ages* Hamilton, Ontario
24 Sep 2008 21:00 Goodbye Blue Monday Brooklyn, New York
25 Sep 2008 20:00 The Sidewalk Cafe NYC, New York
26 Sep 2008 21:00 Oldfields on High w/Josh Fitzwater Columbus, Ohio
27 Sep 2008 18:00 Uncommon Ground Chicago, Illinois
0 Responses to “Emma-Lee @ Irene’s Pub (Ottawa) Aug. 15”
Leave a Reply