Emmy Belle – Seattle Supergirl

The road to the top for some is a very difficult and lonely journey. Emmy Belle is a Seattle native who has been working on her dream for several years. Previously she was the lead singer of a highly successful Seattle country group where she molded her sound and voice with more of a pop/rock influence. Her single “Gemini Child” is a catchy ode to her unique sound and personality.

• How did you get your start in singing?

“My parents tell me that I started singing when I learned to talk; it was just an inherent thing. My earliest memories are scattered with music. I would beg my mom to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to me before bed every night, and whenever I had trouble sleeping my dad would carry me around the room singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” I remember sitting in front of the stereo with big, can headphones on and listening to whatever we had around the house–some Disney records, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, musical theater records, and Motown. I just always loved music, and so I sang along.”

• Who are some of your musical influences?

“I have different influences depending on whether I’m in the writing stage, production stage, or somewhere in between. On this album, lyrically, I found myself very drawn to storytelling. I was bored of writing about love or heartbreak, so I decided to tell other stories. I was listening to artists like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, and Chuck Berry. A couple of love-related songs made their way onto the album anyways. Sometimes you just can’t deny a good song with a simple story.

Melodically, I think I’m influenced by a combination of all of the music I’ve ever liked. Beyond that, where melody comes from is still fairly abstract to me.

When it came to producing the album, I listened to a lot of Fleetwood Mac and Dead Man’s Bones. I listened to producers like Rick Rubin and T-Bone Burnett. I like electronic music, but coming into this album I had just spent a couple of years locked up in my room producing most of my music entirely on the computer. After my Gemini Child EP in December of 2009 I wanted to move away from that and make an album that was very human and had more movement. The production was also influenced by the nature of the lyrics–an attempt to create a world within a song. I found myself curiously drawn to particular time-periods. One day before a session, I was at home procrastinating something that needed to be worked out before going into the studio and a Western came on. The opening scene was set in a saloon and there was an upright piano playing a song of the old west. The style and sound was perfect for the imagery and feel of a particular song so I brought that idea in. Sometimes interesting ideas come from strange places.”

• What are you listening to right now? What’s in your iPod?

“Right now I’m fascinated with Adele’s new song “Rolling in the Deep.” It was co-written and produced by Paul Epworth who has worked a lot with Florence and the Machine, another artist I’m loving right now. “Rolling in the Deep” is a great song, and production-wise it is probably the closest thing I’ve heard lately that’s similar in a lot of ways to my new music. I love how the song balances stripped down verses with denser choruses. I flipped when I heard the old spiritual-like backup vocals in the bridge. Genius.

I’m also loving the Black Keys, Fleet Foxes, and Brandi Carlile. I listen to a lot of classic rock; I’ve always loved music from the 60′ and 70’s in general. The Beatles. Abbey Road is probably my favorite album of all time. Right now “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” by Jimmy Ruffin is stuck in my head. Great song.”

• What’s next for Emmy? When can we expect to hear some new music?

“Hopefully soon, the album is in the final stages of mixing. I just made the move from Seattle to Los Angeles so I’m currently in the process of putting a live band together down here, but I’m heading back up to Seattle this month to finalize the mixes and give the go-ahead for mastering. As for the albums release, I have some important business decisions I need to make before I will know when that might be, but I’m excited to get the music out there, and I can’t wait to get back on stage.”