Jumping completely out of order, a couple of weeks ago we did drums for a track I'm very excited about. I made it completely on Splice loops in March and obviously we needed to reinterpret the whole thing. I was nervous about this because I loved the feel of the demo but we ended up making a track I'm even more obsessed with. Mucking around on drums and percussion was the icing on the cake.
In this same session we also reinterpreted another song I demo'd at the same time. In this case, we only kept the essence of the demo and the song was completely changed, including lyrics and meaning, and all. I am so happy with the direction of this new song! Goes to show you can't hold onto ideas too tightly or else you could miss an ever better idea on the horizon
In October I had a lovely writing day with Jess, the little synth being the absolute highlight 😅 During this session, I started to get a better idea of how to explain my brief to co-writers and the result was a beautiful track 💕
I was really happy with the lyrics I wrote for this track, but I wasn't confident in the song topic as a whole. I decided to rewrite and have a hit a bit of a wall with it. I've been busy with my other work and recording more developed songs right now, but would like to revisit a few demos like this one that deserve more time!
I am SO excited about this song I wrote with Finn! I almost fast tracked it to release this summer but told myself to be patient to release next summer instead. We had such a fun day in studio, I have a bunch of pictures to accompany these videos too, but I like how you can hear snippets of the track this way. As of right now, it'll be a single
I ended up writing the lyrics and singing guide vocals very quickly after Finn left. He gassed me up so much when I sent the song through. The vocal performance will be pretty different to anything I've released so far. I'll have to take my time getting it right. But it feels like a fun, interesting, and natural direction to take for this project, so I'm excited for the challenge ✨
Jack has photographed both of my album covers so far, and he is also a great musician! Late last year I invited him to have a kōrero about the next project and do some writing together. It was a fantastic session, we made basically a full song minus drums while having a bit of fun with sounds and textures too.
I really want this track on the album. Though I would like to spend a bit more time considering the production and I have really struggled to get my vocal delivery right. The vocal jumps up an octave for the final choruses, the high octave sounds ethereal and great but I'm struggling to get the tone of the lower octave to rival it. As per usual once I get stuck on delivery I lose confidence in my lyrics too. It'll get there though. All in good time!
The first Em #3 session I took pictures of was with James. We were meeting to practice for the Move. vinyl release / listening party where we played through a couple of songs. Decided it could be fun to do some writing too. We came up with some lovely piano chords and a guitar line. I really like the feel of what we made, but words never happened. I'd like to try again when I have a moment. I was still figuring out the brief and process at this time. I learnt a lot from this session.
In the first version of the Em #3 brief I gave my co-writers these emotional prompts and allowed them to gravitate towards whichever idea they connected to. The result was co-write songs that have their own tone and point of view but feel connected under the surface.
I listened to Out of Silence a fair bit when I started co-writing for this project. It meets the rich, expansive, sparkling key words. I thought about how those key words would manifest in this project.
I have always informally written briefs as part of my music projects. When I started collaborating in the writing phase more seriously on Move. I realised I needed better prompts to give people.
For Em #3 I gave my co-writers a brief,
A visual reference : Starry Night by Van Gogh
A sonic emotional reference : the piano from my song Dive
Key words : rich, expansive, sparkling
Emotional references : *in the next post
These prompts have allowed us to find a direction while writing, even when I don't know what the project is about yet.
Em has grown out of my love of the act of creating music. I get so excited about the songs that I want to release them straight away. Lately I've been wondering if wanting to release quickly has been to the detriment of the process.
In 2026 a thing or two will be released, but I am relaxing the timeline of Em #3. I want to spend more time in the creating; really sink my teeth in.
I have already been making Em #3 for a while, but for some reason feel like I should only share the process when I'm releasing. I don't want to do that. For the next little while I'll catch you up on what we've done so far, and take you along for the rest of the journey. I think it'll be fun!
“She doesn’t force herself or her art on anybody. She is quiet, understated and holistic in her approach, and I believe that is what makes her and her music so relatable. There is no fluff. No arrogance. No desire to stick out. There is only a devotion to music and a passion to be a part of it in any way she can.”
Words by Kat Parsons @iamaparsons
Photos by Rosa Nevison @rosanevison
EM featured in Issue 4. Get a copy while you can!!!
Move. Song 8 : The Orchard
The closing track off Move. and one of the easiest songs I've ever made. The sound and lyrics of The Orchard describe the feeling of the flat I lived in while making Move.
Slide 1 is a sample of the song I posted when teasing the album • Slide 2 shows Nico the cat while writing the song with Dave • Slide 3 is the credits • Slide 4 is Jeremy at Parachute while recording drums • Slide 5 is one of my fav press pics taken my Jack, and the image for the single cover before I decided to use the album cover instead • Slide 6 the edited loop of the visualiser before I added the music
Hot off the press! Released the Behind the Song for Dive on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. (So lukewarm off the press actually but that didn't vibe the same) I reckon you should check it out if you're into production tutorials on Pro Tools for whatever mix of indie / pop / folk this is, or if you like to hear me yap. Link in my bio / story 💃💃
