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Emmy the Great
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by Rob Webb

Emmy The Great has some strange friends if her claim to writing songs about them is to be believed. Certainly, London's latest (and, dare I say it, greatest) anti-folk troubadour has led a colourful life thus far, moving from Hong Kong to London and ending up as a rollerskating waitress in one of the capital's most eclectic bars.

Playing to a tiny crowd doesn't perturb the plucky 22 year old as she ploughs through a seven song set ("they want me to do a short set so I'll play this one fast") with an intensity you'd imagine a certain Mr Zimmerman would have had back in '65. With no room for her backing band in the van, it's just Emmy with a guitar tonight but the sweetness of her voice ensures the spotlight would still be on her even if the Polyphonic Spree were up there.

Sounding like the illegitimate lovechild of Regina Spektor and Bob Dylan, her songs offer a window into an intriguing world where celebrating the life of a deceased friend by sprinkling champagne on his grave is acceptable behaviour and cutting your hair to be like Patti Smith is the done thing. Let's face it, Emmy The Average just doesn't sound as good, does it?

  • Emmy the Great 8 / 10
Words: Rob Webb
Pictures: Gary Wolstenholme

Wow...

Amazing photo!


Isn't it?

Emma is looking really iconic these days...


really ironic?

?


Not at all Raz

Believe it or not, sometimes words and actions are completely irony free!


not emmy's


edward is dedward

"celebrating the life of a deceased friend by pouring champagne on his grave is acceptable behaviour"

I adore that song, it's like a 4-minute novel.


....

i have heard one song, seen 2 pictures and i want to marry her. That's wrong innit?


no

i have a lifesized poster of her on my ceiling, above my bed. she's the last thing i see before i go to sleep, and the first when i wake up. we held hands once!


....

i hate you Raz. I hate you.


that's so

saucy


Champagne?

Doesn't the song say whisky?


lovely and wise

A great review of a no doubt great gig (wasn't actually *there* or anything as obvious as that)
The thought ocurs....

What can happen to Emmy? What can she do and where can she go? We all love her and want her ot be a success of some sort on terms of her own but where is there for her to spread those spectacular wings? This is not a rhetorical question. Really,I'd like to know what folks think....


ed....

you better watch your mouth or else I'll forward this link to penny....and you know what'll happen then!


...

it would be an entirely platonic marriage and the children would be born from test tube and chemistry.


well...

where did you get the poster from? do tell...


oh dear

any of u actually met the girl? she's a grade A, 24 carat, 100% fraud with a totally self-obsessed, vacuous personality to match. I heard she sold her brothers wheelchair for crack.