Emika (album)
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Emika is the debut studio album by the Bristol-born electronica artist Emika, released in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2011 (in the United States on 11 October) by Ninja Tune.[1] The album was written, composed, and performed by Emika and co-produced and mixed by Berlin engineer Rashad Becker.[2]
Background
Emika chose a software studio as her instrument throughout her musical education and beyond. In Berlin she started to collaborate with engineer Rashad Becker. She has mentioned the roots techno culture as an inspiration because "it was a movement with sound and dancing at its very core. It was not about idols or stars, it was about sound and people coming together to dance and feel free" and also dubstep from Bristol and London, for "originally it was deep spiritual music made by kids for kids".[1] These two influences combined with her being a classically trained pianist and a singer. Speaking of influences, Emika mentioned Delia Derbyshire, the Radiophonic Workshop composer who came up with the original Doctor Who theme ("not so much for the sounds she made as rather for her questing spirit, it inspires me as I go ahead mapping my own musical realm")[1] but also Mahler and Rachmaninoff. "Historically they are worlds apart, and yet much of their music shares a beautiful sense for tragedy. The tragedy of life itself, as it were. Not in a way that creates sadness within the listener, but in a way that makes one hold on dearly to every moment lived," she explained.[3]
The songs of the album have been based on narratives. "I start with an idea, a story, and then I seek to find the sound world that best dramatizes my story, making it into a song. I try very hard to stay faithful to my narratives and not fall into the trap of genre conventions which is why I’m shy of genre references", Emika explained.[4]
Singles
Prior to Emika's release came out four singles which later were included into the album. The first one, "Drop The Other", came out on 18 January 2010 and was followed by "Double Edge" (10 May 2010).[5] On 11 April 2011, "Count Backwards" was released, "the story of an over-fed yet undernourished soul in search of a little peace and quiet," according to Emika. She expanded:
In times of stress, you can count your date of birth backwards or spell your birth month backwards and the logical side of the mind is kicked into action, resulting in a feeling of calm. Counting backwards is a coping mechanism in overwhelming moments of panic… The song is inspired by my best friend from my teenage years. She was a lot older than me and was in therapy. She told me about how our brain works and how it connects thoughts, feelings and creativity. This was the first moment in my life where I became aware of my own creativity.[6]
The single was remixed by British dubstep producers Kryptic Minds and also Marcel Dettmann.[6]
On 5 September 2011, Ninja Tune released the fourth single "Pretend/Professional Loving". The first track, in Emika's words, is "about all sides of fakeness, disbelief, dancing on the head of a pin. It begins with a synth I made to feel like a heartbeat, and ends with psychotic hi-hats playing a melody which will come get you while you sleep," the second about the way in which the music industry uses "friendship" as a form of control.[7] Among the remixers were Berlin experimentalists Brandt Brauer Frick, Kyle Hall and DJ Rashad.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [8] |
| AU Magazine | [9] |
| BBC Music | [10] |
| Drowned in Sound | [11] |
| The Irish Times | [12] |
| Mojo | [9] |
| The Observer | [13] |
| Pitchfork | (7.4/10)[14] |
| Q | [9] |
| The Music Fix | [9] |
| Subba Cultcha TV |   [15] |
| Uncut | [9] |
Upon its release, Emika received positive reviews from most music critics. AnyDecentMusic?, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reports an average score of 73, based on 12 reviews.[9]
The album (self-described as a "beautiful nightmare") has been characterized variously as "unique and exciting",[16] "varied and impressive", "very accomplished",[11] "incredibly strong and consistent in it's [sic] approach",[16] "disconcerting but bewitching",[10] "immediately engaging",[15] "intriguing, dark, seductive and as hard to pin down as its creator".[13]
Kyle Ellison of Drowned in Sound described Emika as a "mysterious and alluring new voice" and lauded her successful merging of electronica and dubstep, that fact that "can only be credited to her great understanding and enthusiasm for both".[11] To the critic, the album "has a remarkable sonic balance, creating a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere that lasts from beginning to end", which is mirrored in the lyrics, too. Commenting on the album's dark intensity, Ellison opined the it "…might indeed prove too much for some listeners, offering very few cracks of light amongst its shadowy, industrial exterior", picking two tracks, "Drop the Other" and "Double Edge" as this otherwise somble piece's brightest moments.[11]
AllMusic's Jon O'Brien credited Emika with an attempt to take dubstep, that's gone mainstream, "right back into the underground". Her "tension-filled soundscapes are unlikely to be jostling with recent chart-toppers Nero and DJ Fresh for the number one spot", the reviewer argued.[8] Calling the album's "fusion of ethereal melodies and hushed harmonies with avant-garde electronica and twitchy rhythms" as "enchanting as it is unsettling", O'Brien mentioned particularly the sinister 'FM Attention', which, with its "elasticated synths, eerie industrial noises, and echo-laden banshee vocals" seemed destined to "be played over the finale of a particularly trippy horror movie".[8] A recurring theme of the album, the "sense of disorientation", ensures that "you're never quite sure where Emika is going to go next", according to Allmusic.[8] While "all tracks resonate with themes of alienation and genuine melancholia and isolation", it's "the beauty found hidden inside these over-arching themes that really makes Emika's debut a triumph", according to The 405 review.[16]
Killian Fox of The Observer, while speaking of how the atmospheric, "slow-burning and bass-heavy" sound of the album owes much to the Bristol sound of a trip hop era, noted that the influence of Portishead "can be heard in [Emika’s] crystalline vocals, but it doesn't define her. Berlin has had an effect, too, and the care with which she has programmed the sonic landscape of tracks such as 'Drop the Other' speaks of an immersion in that city's techno scene", the critic concluded.[13]
BBC's Wyndham Wallace has traced the connection between Emika's day job at Berlin's influential music software company Native Instruments, and the sound of the album: "It's the sleek, sophisticated sonics that make her work so irresistible... This is, first and foremost, an electronic record, and it's impossible to ignore the depth of the sub-bass that shudders beneath much of what she offers – something that would make James Blake jealous", he wrote in a BBC Music review.[10] Wallace, one of several critics who highlighted Emika's classical piano training, found the good example in the closing "Credit Theme", "which sounds like it was written for the closing scenes of a black-and-white French romance".[10] AllMusic, on the other hand, picked up "Professional Loving" as harking back to her classically trained beginnings "with their opening piano intros/outros (something also alluded to on the closing Beethoven-inspired instrumental 'Credit Theme')".[8] "The skittering muted beats, indecipherable wailings, and ambient effects of the melancholic 'The Long Goodbye' explain why Thom Yorke is such a big fan", Jon O'Brien added. Incidentally, the "female James Blake labels are inevitable but rather misleading, as Emika doesn't really sound like anyone else out there", the AllMusic reviewer warned.[8][8]
"It is cool and mysterious yet with enough hooks, variations and beats to keep you interested. Think the icy tension of The xx meets the occasional piercing self awareness of PJ Harvey in a world of electronica and you may be somewhere near this album: a surprise for a new listener certainly", Mandy Williams of Subba Cultcha argued.[15] "Finally, though, it's the sheer intensity of the whole package that seduces. Pop enough to be immediately accessible, but dark enough – in fact almost gothic, in the same way as Zola Jesus is gothic – to be mysterious and provocative, Emika leaves you wanting more, even though you know it's sometimes rather troubling", Wyndham Wallace of the BBC concluded.[10]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Emika
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "3 Hours" | 4:39 |
| 2. | "Common Exchange" | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Professional Loving" | 3:47 |
| 4. | "Be My Guest" | 4:27 |
| 5. | "Count Backwards" | 4:00 |
| 6. | "Double Edge" | 4:39 |
| 7. | "Pretend" | 4:14 |
| 8. | "The Long Goodbye" | 4:44 |
| 9. | "FM Attention" | 3:43 |
| 10. | "Drop the Other" | 3:28 |
| 11. | "Come Catch Me" | 4:06 |
| 12. | "Credit Theme" | 2:16 |
References
- ^ a b c "Emika release". Ninja Tune. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ "Emika album. Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
- ^ Philip Sherburne. "Interview: Emika". www.beatportal.com. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ "Emika". ninjatune.net. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ "Double Edge". ninjatune.net. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b "Count Backwards". ninjatune.net. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ "ninjatune.net". ninjatune.net. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jon O’Brien. "Emika review". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f "Emika. Reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Emika review". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d Kyle Ellison. "Emika review". drownedinsound.com. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ Jim Carroll (7 October 2011). "Emika review". www.irishtimes.com. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c Killian Fox (2 October 2011). "Emika album review". London: The Observer. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ Weiss, Jeff. "Emika: Emika". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
- ^ a b c Mandy Williams. "Emika review". www.subba-cultcha.com. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c "Emika – Emika review". www.thefourohfive.com. Retrieved 10 October 2011.