EMA – or Ericka M Anderson to her Mom – is on her second album. Having released debut Past Life Martyred Saints in 2011 to some good feedback, she’s now ready to drop her second offering, The Future’s Void. I would consider the album to sound like a Hole offering for the electronica age; bouncing precariously between ballsy aggro and naked vulnerability critiquing the media, the establishment, society and everybody else who’s a bastard. Verrrrryyy interesting lyrically, smart analogies and tongue-in-cheek parodies. Let’s chat about it…
You can pretty much split the album into 3 distinctive styles. Each one sounds like it was undertaken with complete commitment, to the point where you can feel the blood sweat and tears bleeding from the speakers. The first is a kind of digital rain sound, most prominent in the form of Satellites. Sounding like a crazed lady Darth Vader commanding her armies, she issues deep lyrical warnings, paralleling Cold War secrecy and the Google age. Her vocal delivery is heavy yet breathy, controlled yet crazy – completely haunting. She cracks this out again on Cthulu and the almost aneurism enduring Neuromancer – a wild stomping drum romp about the culture of narcism and ‘selfies’, who knew that could sound so agit-pop.
Next is the edge-of-cliff vulnerable, where EMA takes on a kind of Lamb doing Gorecki vibe, which when done the way she does is just breathtaking. This is first visible on the YouTube critiquing 3Jane, but for me peaks on the beautiful 100 Years. Her voice weeps softly over a simple piano chord pattern and a distant lone violin, her delivery so purposefully delayed you the listener hangs on to her every breath. A stunning track.
Although both of these juxtaposing sounds have stand out tracks, my personal favourites are when the 2 styles clash gloriously in the middle to create something very relevant, current but yet harking back to a more 90’s Clueless age in a glorious pastiche. Know what I mean? Maybe not, but regardless, the first point of call for this is So Blonde, a tune that could come straight out of Lollapalooza back in the day and for me is the standout track on the album. A heavy, mid-tempo guitar track with an aloof vocal delivery, until the chorus comes and then we start the screaming. The video features an indifferent and aviator clad EMA pottering around LA with a load of dancing Sims-esque characters. When She Comes and Dead Celebrity are also worthy of mentions as 2 of the record’s best. Still cool, but understatedly threatening in a way not seen since the grunge/riot girl era. You get the feeling that as she’s threatening to ‘tell his wife’ or make ‘em ‘beg for their lives’ that a wry smile curls the edges of her lips.
Usually, music like this I would consider too ‘cool’ for my tastes, too aware of current trends, too electronic. However, EMA has wrestled me down, quite brutally. She’s utterly deliciously post-modern; full of smart references and cultural markers. Lyrically similar to the riot girls and the Loves’ of the 90’s; women pissed at the press for taking their bodies and their image, fighting to claim it back for themselves. EMA has completely updated this for a new generation, and has maintained the smarts and the anger – the more you listen the more you get it. And that voice, that VOICE! Ooohh that’s something. That voice is an emotional maelstrom you just gotta ride until she’s done with you. There are definitely some bloopers, but I spose that happens when you’re styles float all over the place. 70% of the album is pretty solid, and I’d give it a punt for the standout singles. Top work!
Kate Tittley
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