Emma Blackery continues to ‘Blossom’

For most artists, putting out an EP is what your year is all about, or an album, or even a single or two. For Emma Blackery, she’s given all of these things to her fans in 2020 alone. In May I wrote about her EP ‘My Arms Are Open’, four tracks of personal origin with the lead single ‘Wolves’ receiving a music video. Then later in the summer I wrote about the re-recording Emma Blackery made of her ‘Villains’ album, executed in a stripped down acoustic style and shining more light on the songs written for that album almost three years previously. Now Emma leaves her fans one more musical gift in 2020, her new single ‘Blossom’.

Blossom comes as a surprise to fans, as this musical direction is unlike any Emma Blackery has embarked on before. Inspired by some of her favourite artists from the 1990’s including The Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins and Alanis Morissette, Emma has embodied this sound in her new single. Of course Blackery has dabbled in loud drums and guitars before with her ‘Distance’, ‘Perfect’ and ‘Sucks To Be You’ EPs, but this is different.

Produced by herself and her partner Davey Bennett, the track begins with a drum fill that brings the guitars straight in. The drums are likely programmed, but they sound natural and human, like you can see the drummer smashing the shit out of the cymbals themselves - the whole of Blossom has the vibe of a band playing in a garage with the door open. The guitars aren’t too heavy on the distortion, so they stop shy of Nirvana but aren’t radio-rock either. The emulation of 1990’s indie is successfully achieved without straying into a situation where the duo sound like they’re taking the piss. It’s a timeless sound, devoid of period reverbs or genre-defining synthesizers, and Blackery has the uncanny ability to sound both confident and vulnerable in equal measure.

Blossom is an upbeat song instrumentally and lyrically - my favourite lyric is ‘you call me your buttercup blossom baby, but you said that I’d wilt away with all the worry, you said I live for the melancholy honey, it’s been two months, why are you still calling?’ Simple wordplay like this is something I notice more each time I dive into Blackery’s catalogue. In Emma’s varied career in music, we’ve seen her reach far with her vocals in songs like ‘Wolves’, or edging in anger with her single ‘Sucks To Be You’, or the more gentle delivery in ‘History Of Touches’, but this is something else still. Despite the loud drums and guitars, Blackery doesn’t stray into the territory of the powerful lead vocals she’s grown better and better at, nor is this like some of her best pop-punk inspired by Avril Lavigne. Emma vocal is almost soft under the noise, but it works, like Nina Persson’s delivery in most of The Cardigans’ music, but with a heavier backing. I would love to hear a whole album produced by Emma and Davey in this style, because this is one of the best singles of Emma Blackery’s career so far.

1. 'Blossom' is your new single and I've never heard you sound like this before! What inspired this musical direction?

I’ve always been a huge fan of alt-rock - I spent a lot of my college years listening to bands such as The Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins, Placebo, as well as female artists such as Alanis Morissette. I decided in the run up to my next album cycle that this would be the perfect time to experiment with a completely different genre to what people are used to hearing from me. It was extremely refreshing to write the song with my partner at home and record it from my home studio - oftentimes songs take a long while to go from conception to release, but this came about in a very short time, so still it feels really fresh.

2. Your lyrics always relate to personal experience - what was the experience around ‘Blossom’?

This is another thing that feels refreshing - I usually take my lyrics to a very personal place, but with this song, I wanted to write with a more relaxed approach. The song is simply about being young and in love, where your feelings for this other person become all that really matter. Every problem feels small when you’re with them. I wanted to write a song that a lot of people could relate to without giving it sprinkles of specific experiences.

3. 2020 has been a difficult year to record any new music, would you tell us about the recording and the people who play on the track?

This song is purely my partner Davey and myself. We came up with the concept together, and Davey really helped me make the song a reality. We recorded and produced everything ourselves from our home studio, with Davey taking care of the production, mixing and mastering and me recording and mixing my vocals to how I like them. Overall it was a really fun, creative process.

4. Let's say hypothetically you were making a covers EP of your favourite tracks in this genre, what would you choose?

I think Zombie by The Cranberries has been done to death, but if it was a track that people didn’t immediately jump to in the genre, it would be fantastic. Besides that, I think perhaps Til I Hear It From You by Gin Blossoms, Snakeface by Throwing Muses, Birthday by The Sugarcubes and Big Bang Baby by Stone Temple Pilots.

5. If you could go back and jam with one artist in the 1990's, who would it be and why?

Björk, definitely. She’s been a huge influence on me in terms of songwriting (I was inspired by her song title History of Touches for one of my more recent releases) and even though she changed her sound once she moved away from The Sugarcubes, I would love to be there when she recorded the album Post. It’s one of my favourite albums of all time.

6. Having seen your recent video about your experience in the industry over the past three or so years, what advice would you give to a musician in a similar position?

If I could hope for one thing to be taken away from that video by independent artists, it would be to keep an eye on what control you give away to other people. Once you relinquish control for the sake of ease, it’s very hard to gain it back from the person you gave it to. There are a lot of people who make a lot of promises to not only make your life easier, but to make your career bigger and better - whilst they may be genuine, it’s worth insuring you’re receiving transparency and work alongside them instead of putting them on a pedestal. If they’re not willing to do that, it’s a red flag.

7. Can fans expect a whole new EP in the style of 'Blossom'? Maybe something more?

At this time I’m not going to release an EP in this style, but there’s a nice surprise waiting in future material coming in 2021, so stay tuned, keep your eyes peeled, and any other cliché jargon that people love to say when they want to keep things a secret!

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