The cover of EMA’s latest album is another front-facing shot and once again her eyes are shielded, though not by her blonde fringe. On this occasion she wears an Oculus Rift, locked into her own virtual reality; it’s an image that echoes the themes explored in The Future’s Void.
Musicians have long been exploring the pitfalls and pleasures of finding an audience for their soul-bearing on follow-up albums, but only more recently has this reality been filtered through the ‘digital witness’ era. The strangeness of opening your soul to a world of faceless downloaders is detailed in 3Jane, a desolate space ballad that recalls the glassy-eyed grandeur of Julee Cruise. “Feel like I blew my soul out across the interwebs and streams,” she gasps, shrugging off people’s disassociation as a “modern disease.”
The fear and uncertainty of exposure and fame is contrasted with the romantic embracing of another soul. This friction between alienating distance and passionate closeness comes to a head in the anxious final two minutes of the slow-burning Smoulder. Neuromancer doesn’t have to look too far into the future for its representation of a dystopian nightmare, with its narcissistic subject making a living from taking selfies. A dark disco inferno, it spirals away manically with its “I Will Survive!” call sounding more desperate than triumphant. Everything here sounds like an uphill battle, but that’s what makes the music of EMA so transfixing.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Best Track: Neuromancer
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Is This Desire? PJ HARVEY, Third PORTISHEAD
In A Word: Future-proof
