Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Emma Pollock


Today I’ve been listening to The Delgados' album The Great Eastern for the first time in what seems like years. I’d forgotten just how good it is. An indie classic that really should have been massive. Then my mind turned to what the band were up to now. I’ve no idea what the three blokes are up to (I saw some of them in Malcolm Middleton’s band a couple of years ago), but Emma Pollock is very much back on the scene. I've been intending to post on Emma for a while now, but never got round to it until now.

She started off her solo career last year, playing a few support slots and signing a deal with 4AD Records. This year sees the release of her debut album, preceded by a single sometime soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of songs which may or may not be on the new album. Limbs is a lovely fragile little number, with the acoustic guitar and Emma’s voice nicely augmented by piano. Paper and Glue was recorded by Xfm in a hotel in Austin at the recent South by Southwest festival.

Although both these songs are acoustic, I can imagine them getting a Delgados-style orchestrated expansion, and even benefiting from it. But as they are, they're pretty good. I’m looking forward to hearing more.

Emma’s on tour in May with her new band (dates here). Londoners can catch her at The Borderline on 24 May. The same night as James Yorkston at the Union Chapel. Ooh – tough choice for me!

Download: Emma Pollock – Limbs
Download: Emma Pollock – Paper and Glue (live acoustic)

And just a bonus from that great Delgados album.

Download: The Delgados – Aye Today

Buy The Great Eastern (you can get it quite cheap now).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I watched her for a bit at SXSW and she had a face like fizz!!
She almost matched the singer from Camera Obscura as the most miserable person I've seen on a stage!

The Daily Growl said...

Maybe it's something about Scottish female indie icons!

Mind you, Emma Pollock did talk about the SXSW gig on her online diary. Seems they may have had sound problems...

Anonymous said...

Yeah - SXSW was a bit of a shit of a gig which probably accounted for my demeanour at the time.
No soundcheck and gremlins on stage etc. SXSW is a bit of a rammy though - you get thrown on and off like cattle.

Thanks for the mention Daily Growl.


Cheers,
Emma

Anonymous said...

I am in awe. Mr. Growl, you rock!