Last night Emma Lee Moss AKA Emmy the Great performed a show in an empty Mary Magdalene church in Paddington, London, streaming live over the internet.
Emmy is one of my very favourite musicians, who I discovered by chance via MySpace all the way back in 2006.
I think I’ve seen her live more than any other performer, maybe six or seven times. I’ve even met her on several occasions and she’s always been a lovely human.
Fans were asked to submit requests and due to this we heard so many tracks from her back catalogue, including demos dating back 15 years!
I got to hear Secret Circus for the first time since March 2007, so I was definitely a happy man.
If you’ve never heard of Emmy before it’s hard to describe her style, she began her career as more of an acoustic solo performer, often described as anti-folk.
Over the years she’s added a band, various instruments and dabbled in many different musical styles but her lyrics are always what capture me. Emmy is a storyteller, I equally look forward to the stories she will tell lyrically as much as I do the sound.
Where to start? I’d go to the beginning and work your way forward. If you need a sampler check out Paper Forest, lyrically and vocally beautiful. It still boggles my mind all these years later that this track really didn’t get the praise it deserved.
