“I’m trying to get better… I definitely think it takes a lot out of me to try and live up to my own standards, but I’m intrinsically motivated to do that,” she admits. Evident in the apparently catastrophic state of her apartment, EMA’s motivation to obtain perfection doesn’t permeate throughout her life. “My room is a mess and I don’t care about cleaning it, it’s filthy [but] I’m not like ‘everything needs to be in its place,’ you know? It’s just kind of in the art work realm of things.”
Despite proving exhausting at times, EMA recognises that her meticulous approach to art does have its advantages. “It makes me work hard; it makes me like, ‘No I’m not resting until this is right.’” All that hard work has paid off, in the form of EMA’s debut solo album. The artist’s first release since her split with ex-band member and lover Ezra Buchla, the other half of the duo Gowns, Past Life Martyed Saints showcases EMA’s haunting, melodic brand of noise music that’s particularly difficult to pigeonhole.
“I read a description that was ‘shoe gaze punk,’ and I kind of liked that,” laughs EMA when asked to define her genre defying sound, known to frustrate industry professionals. “I had work before Past Life Martyred Saints that was even less genre specific. It was like country and noise, like Americana meets feedback and some harsh parts – and no one wanted to touch it. Noise labels were like ‘you’re singing too much.’”
Disregarding advice from labels, EMA has created an album which has garnered a positive reception due largely to her refusal to conform to the confines of a genre. “If you want to be successful in a traditional sense, and sell out places and earn money, it’s probably good to take the advice of people in the industry. But, the thing that’s been really cool on this record is that I feel like the songs that I’ve taken the most risk on [see the record’s 7 minute opener, Greyship] are actually the songs that people are most excited about.”
Prior to writing the album, maintaining her integrity and resisting the pressures of the industry proved daunting for the small town girl from South Dakota, and almost saw EMA throw in the towel. “There are still parts about it that are scary, and one of the things that I would think about was ‘I want to improve my living situation.’ [When] being a musician, or trying to be a musician, you don’t have a steady pay check – no one wants to hear someone complain about this, especially from people that are getting interviewed (laughs apologetically) – but I need to try and give myself some security in life.”
On the contrary, EMA acknowledges that any endeavour in life is a risky business. “I told myself, ‘I’ll just be a high school English teacher that plays in a bar band’, but the thing about that is there’s no sure path anymore. You can’t just decide that you’ll go to more schools and then there’ll be a job for you, there’ll be a salary for you, and there’ll be a house for you.”
Fortunately, EMA couldn’t abandon such an integral part of her and, resolving to power through with music, has stumbled upon success. Recording the release herself and embellishing her already chaotic material with fuzzy, lo-fi production, Past Life Martyed Saints, is intriguing, introspective, violent and laced with metaphor. Combining harmonious layered vocals, grungy guitar sounds and creative instrumentation, EMA’s music epitomizes everything contradictory, its only constant the pervading disquietude that characterises her work. Renowned for artistically crafted and emotionally bare lyrics, EMA asserts that writing is an entirely natural process, and often finds herself decoding her own lyrics along with her audience.
“If you think about your subconscious mind, it kind of works in metaphors and puns. If you think about your dreams, something might seem totally absurd until you say it out loud and [then] you’re like, ‘Oh, I bet this means this.’ Sometimes I don’t even realise the metaphors and the rhyme structure or anything like that is there until I look at it later and I’m like, ‘Oh, man there is a lot of stuff going on.’”
One of the most interesting pieces on record is California, written about EMA’s move to the state and the displacement she experienced. The song reflects EMA’s fascination with the customs of alternate places, and explores how differently a place can be viewed from an outsider’s perspective. “[Because] I’m from such an isolated place, I’m constantly interested in other places and other ways of life. I don’t even know how to put this sort of thing into words, but it’s like different places have different beliefs of what life is for, and what life is about, and that can really fuck you up. To travel to different spots and have your whole orientation rotate – it’s crazy.”
Quickly becoming well travelled, EMA says touring for the new album has cultivated her interest. “It’s making me want to learn more about world history. I’ve been in Europe a bunch this fall so I’m kind of like, ‘Oh man, what is this about?’ and I’ve been reading up on European history.”
EMA now looks forward to experiencing the lifestyle down under as she prepares to tour for our iconic Laneway Festival early next year. “The lineup looks fantastic,” she enthuses. “I was really impressed by the fact that Laneway seems very well curated.”
As far as what Aussie audiences can expect from EMA and her band in a live setting, EMA says she won’t be attempting to emulate all the sounds of her album. “We’ll just kind of make it punk and loose and rowdy. When I play live, I kind of care about music, but I also really care about the experience what passes between a performer and an audience… that’s more what I’m concerned about.”
BY KIM CROXFORD
