Emmy The Great - youlikewelike

EMMY THE GREAT: HER OWN WORDS

Interviewing creative types and fragile songwriters can be tricky, but it is necessary. Of course we fickle wordsmiths are happy to let you, the reader, believe that it's an art being a writer for hire, which is fine. But then one day somebody's gonna see right through you.

You see, Emma Lee Moss (or Emmy the Great, if you will) spends daylight hours "in the real job world" as, interestingly, a "frustrated journalist". With this revealed, she immediately gains the upper hand as she goes about dissecting the whole writing process.

"It's very different interviewing somebody and being interviewed yourself," she says. "It's weird; there's almost like a sense of voyeurism when you're writing an article about someone. I don't know about anyone else, but I always feel really cheeky taking what people say and turning into a 400-word piece. It's like fucking them over. You know when you hate being asked a particular question but you still ask it anyway."

As a first exchange, this is not the best place to start. She's "cool" with being fucked over by the interviewer, but that's not the point. If Lee knows what it's like to be on this end of the phone, how self-conscious is she as an artist?

"I'm better at writing songs than I am writing articles," she laughs. "But I take everything the press say about me with a pinch of salt 'cause I don't think anybody could care about it as much as me."

But then again, who wants to be a conventional songwriter? Touring is refreshingly Emmy the Great's favourite part of the singing life, and since moving here from Hong Kong over 10 years ago, it's proved to be something of a learning curve for her. "I've learnt a lot from touring. When I first came here I had no idea where Birmingham was, or that people had different accents around the country. Now I've been to Scotland and Wales. I've yet to reach Devon though."

Having toured with Jamie T and Bright Eyes, Emmy the Great is getting quite an education. This is something she puts down to tireless gigging, at first in quirky solo pub nights, and nowadays with her multi-talented band at the likes of Bestival or Latitude Festival. All part of being an upcoming Anti-Folk star, apparently.

Whatever that means.

"It means I hate people," she giggles. "Or it refers to American stuff like Adam
Green and Mouldy Peaches. I don't consider myself Anti-Folk but I think I have a lot in common with them. It's all irreverent lyrics and DIY ethics, although I'm becoming less like that these days."

Separating herself from her contemporaries, there are unique qualities to be heard on Lee's City Song and Easter Parade, and not only in this girl's delicate pipes, but also in her penchant for telling a magical story.

"I don't really write about my own life," she claims. "I can be calm and sit on a train and get an idea, or if I haven't had an idea for ages I get absolutely blind drunk. If all the stuff in my songs had actually happened to me then I'd have to be 85 years old. It's like writing a tiny novel."

Literature is another thing Lee knows more about than her interviewer. Influenced as much by her favourite authors as she is by any band, what does she recommend we should be reading?

"Anything by Philip K Dick. I find it very easy to write songs when I think of Philip Larkin; the great thing about poetry is that you can quote from it in your lyrics without it sounding like plagiarism."

I knew it. This songwriting lark is as much a con as the journalism enthusing about it.You can't argue with results however, and when Emmy the Great's debut My Bad EP sold fantastically, the anticipation since has been heated.

"I can't believe we got away with it," is her bewildered reaction to the suggestion of hype.

Maybe if she was on the receiving end of her musical enchantment, she would know just how special it is.

words: Fran Donnelly

download PDF/print

emmythegreat.com + myspace

...Also See

Robert Reich + Shack + Twisted Charm + Matix + Jose Gonzales + Canon Blue + Remi Nicole + Biker Gangs + X Factor Jungle + Kyte + Four Tet + American Apparel + F air Trials Abroad + Kissaway Trail + Asghar Bukhari + London Gangs + Ava Leigh +
Queer Advertising + Fareshare + Honour Killings + Sideshow + Private Armies + Kate, Leonardo & Sam + Gloria Cycles