Earlier this week, I found myself listening to Clean Bandit in preparation for Parklife Festival and feeling frustrated that their album is so inconsistent musically. The hit song Mozart's House crudely attempts to integrate a stereotype of classical music in a way that feels gimmicky. Yet last night, both Colleen Green and EMA more profoundly shared some of the experimental spirit apparent in edgy contemporary classical music. It sometimes felt like performance art: I was taken to an alternative reality. The delivery was less polished than St Vincent's stylised persona, but full of raw emotion.
I discovered that EMA has a phenomenal stage presence during her 2011 appearance in Manchester, when she supported Zola Jesus, and she's subsequently released one my favourite albums of 2014. Yet issues outside the performers' control almost prevented this gig from fulfilling its potential. Restless elements in the small audience led Colleen Green to admonish the talkers, and later on EMA ended up pouring water on an inebriated audience member's head in an assertive attempt to silence him. Also, from my position on the front rail facing Erika's guitar amp, the vocals were overwhelmed in the sound mix. Erika's vocals have been compared to Lou Reed's for their emotional delivery, and their sidelining was a price worth paying to be so close to such a talented musician. She made eye contact with individual members of the audience, a memorable gesture.
Colleen Green, hiding behind her sunglasses (a very Californian look), had a more detached air than EMA on stage, performing her minimalist pop punk music alone. At times I thought she sounded like a more stoned Bethany Cosentino heard from the next room. This is not intended as criticism: the simplicity and repetition drew you into its strange world. I'd like to hear Colleen with a live drummer, yet her solo performance allowed you to focus on the essence of the music, and it felt a worthy and apt choice of support for EMA.
In contrast to this act and her own album Past Life, Martyred Saints, EMA's The Future's Void has a relatively glossy production, aided on stage by the violin playing of its producer Leif Shackleford. Yet the inclusion of songs from Erika's earlier projects Amps for Christ and Gowns revealed a more stripped back style. I found her set to be more an emotionally devastating private experience than a collective one; the complete opposite of the extroversion of Awolnation last week. It wasn't lacking in energy: songs like Cthulu gradually build up to a devastatingly intense climax. Elements of grunge, vocal distortion and imaginative electronic sounds provided a nervous edginess and I was totally absorbed. The band, which also included a backing singer and drummer, have played together for a long period, but there was little need for overt, visible interaction between them; their bonds are deeper.
Listening to EMA can also be quite an intellectual experience; not just because of the bold freedom of the music, but the weighty themes of the lyrics. In common with Annie Clarke, Satellites articulates the unease generated by Government surveillance of the Internet, and Smoulder (not played last night) alludes to the shallow narcissism of social media and selfie culture. Yet, my highlight was the more tender Dead Celebrity, which closed the main set. Erika memorably performed it from the rail directly in front of me. The tone wasn't relentlessly bleak: 3Jane showed a vulnerability amidst the anger elsewhere; whereas So Blonde, inspired by the legacy of Courtney Love brought a pop feel. Ultimately, the depth of the music combined with Erika's committed performance means EMA is an essential act to see live, and only the venue and audience separated it from the near perfection of St Vincent at the Cathedral earlier this year.
Set List
- Violin introduction
- Satellites
- So Blonde
- Marked
- Cthulu
- Neuroromancer
- Butterfly Knife
- California
- 3Jane
- Cherrylee
- When She Comes
- Feels Blind
- Solace
- Dead Celebrity
- Anteroom (encore)
- White Like Heaven (encore)
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