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Emm Gryner -- Public 1998
I owe my discovery of Emm Gryner to Glenn McDonald, the author of www.furia.com/twas. In his site, he posts his reviews of maybe a thousand albums as well as his insight into some important things about life. So when I saw his list of best albums of the previous years, I looked up a few of the artists and found an immediate attraction to the music of Emm Gryner.
How often do you feel moved by music? I don't mean moved in the emotional sense, that happens too often. I'm talking about being moved from your chair or car or basement to some other physical place. I write this and wonder if I am talking about an outer body experience. It's not that either. I feel overtaken by a strong sense of imagination when I sing along with Emm.
The melodies of each track are unique, and there are some catchy ones as well, but the strength of this pianist is her lyrics. She describes the loss of a relationship with clarity, "Death is a new day / A new day without you" and in a different song uses irony to show the effect love has on her heart, "My love carved his name in me."
Most of the tracks on the CD have lyrics that are poignant, clear, and emotive. My only problem with the CD is that the tracks are primarily about her reflections on relationships that have ended. This formula works for this CD because she is able to write about what she knows most intimately, her private feelings.
Emm chose the name of the CD, Public, because these private songs were now going to be public. The name is also an analogy for her singing career. After releasing two CDs on her own label, Dead Daisy Records, she was picked up by Mercury/Polygram Records and released Public. With this move, her career was about to become more "public". It turns out that her relationship with Mercury/Polygram ended not unlike some of the relationships she has written about. The songs are very personal and her audience is anyone interested in hearing how she works on healing herself a lover has left. I recommendPublic to anyone who likes rock and pop with meaningful lyrics.
Emm Gryner -- Science Fair 1999
Mercury Records dropped Emm Gryner from their label after one CD release, Public, and her next CD became a project to produce. Reading the details on her web page, I am reminded what music recording should be about. It should be about the passion to share with others the art you create. She describes how she produced the songs for Science Fair in four locations, from Lake Huron, to Toronto, to Ontario, to West Hollywood.
Science Fair is named after this personal struggle and joy
to produce the music on her own. Her lyrics on this CD seem to me to
be less transparent than on Public. The CD begins with "Serenade",
a track about chasing love, where she uses imagery of the seasons and weather
to describe her suffering. "Stereocrome" is the pop hit on the CD, but even
after digging at the lyrics, I am still unable to describe it in a sentence,
except to guess that she enjoyed listening to music on the turntable and
wishes with every song she plays that the man she loves would come back.
In "Southern Dreamer" she describes how to stay with the one you love.
"Julia" is about hope, but again I would have to guess to describe the
context of the song. "Revenge" is about the author discovering she is
deserves someone more mature than the man she is with. "Good Riddance"
is another song that demonstrates abstraction in her lyrics:
Cutting edge
Breaking ground
Hey whatever you've found
Waltzing up the hi-rise
I only wanted you to listen
Ordinary Jesus down at the record store
Will never say my name
I could go on and describe the rest of the songs on the CD in this way, but the bottom line is that if you like imagery, void of character stories, you may like Science Fair. I like the CD, even though I have to struggle with each track to discover (or fail to discover) its meaning. I'd like to ask Emm if this intentional.
The music is sophisticated, and appropriate. She layers two acoustic guitars in a few songs, emphasises cello on another track, and adds touches of her piano on many other tracks.
Why does it take so much effort and a good amount of luck to unearth artists like Emm Gryner? Why do the major labels not trust artists like this? What are they looking for?
Emm Gryner -- Dead Relatives 2000
I didn't expect much from the CD Dead Relatives when I ordered it several weeks ago from Emm Gryner's web site. In fact, when it arrived, the same day as Girl Versions, I put into my CD player the collection of covers, interpreted with piano, instead of Dead Relatives.
I belive there are 6 great tracks on this CD and one hidden track
that is beautiful as well. The strength of the 6 tracks is in their
lyrics and Emm's expression. She sings from her soul and writes from
her emotion and her connection with others. In the following lines
from "Joan", Emm sings about a friend or relative she is leaving behind
while moving to New York. Her message is that while change
is painful, Joan should remain hopeful and beautiful instead of turning
blue.
Joan hides the blue like a pro
like all the green things under the falling snow
I took her laughter with me to the edge or New York
Joan forgets the way she is adored.
Joan don't be sad to greet the change
cause your beauty stays while all the things rearrange
I took her kindness with me to the edge of New York
Joan forgets the way she is adored
The best produced track on the CD is "Parting Song". I hear two pianos,
a lead guitar, a bass guitar, cymbols, drums, and a layering of her own voice.
In "Parting Song", Emm poetically addresses a past love.
If a new kiss was on your list
if another pixie brought you this
well I wouldn't think to veto it,
bursting from my seams.
'Cause there was no other living thing
who meant the sum of everything
the figure in the corner to whom each night I'd sing.
The CD has its flaws. I am not compelled to ferret out the meaning of the lyrics on some of the slower songs. My interest seems to be captured on almost every other track, while it is permitted to wander on those in-between. I enjoy the CD far less than Science Fair or Public. In fact, her smash hit "Summerlong" appears on Public but an earlier version also appears here, and while the songs are similar, the first dozen seconds of "Summerlong" on Dead Relatives is another big reason I respect the production less than those other two CDs. But considering these are a collection of songs she held off of her earlier albums, that she says were "just lying around", considering these are like table scraps for her fans, I belive she that alone is evidence of her immense talent.
Emm Gryner -- Asian Blue 2002
Asian Blue is another independent release from Emm Gryner's CD label Dead Daisy Records. Again she proves that if you can't make the best music with a major label, make it on your own.
Emm begins the CD with what is her best dance/pop production to date. "Symphonic" is the closest thing to a drug that compels me to get up and dance around the kitchen floor. Now I am not a dancer, but since purchasing this CD, I've done more dancing than in the past dozen years combined. In fact, when "Symphonic" ends, my kids are eager to hit the button on the player so that the song will play over again. Then we all return to our dancing madness, running and bouncing like no one can see us. One small fault I have with this CD is that the first two songs ("Symphonic" and "Beautiful Things") are so strong, that it is hard to not repeat them, which makes it hard to hear the rest of the CD!
There are other notable songs on the CD: "Northern Holiday" speaks about escaping the pain and problems of a break-up in a Northern Holiday. There is a vague reference to something like drugs that will take her "goin' higher than you'd like to see me go". "Lonestar", another song about losing a love, proves she can write catchy choruses--and pull it off with the illusion that it takes no effort to write music at all. In "Christopher", Emm's tribute to a Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, her piano captures the dreamy quality of space.
There are several tracks that seem to lack Emm's usual magic. I believe "Siamese Star" is not as emotive as Emm may have hoped, although this is purely a guess on my part, and the production in this song implies that she invested a lot of energy in this song. "Divine Like You" and "Young Rebel", seem to be less complicated than her typical compositions.
Even though I feel that at times this CD demonstrates Emm "going through the motions" of songwriting, the lyrics and melodies on Asian Blue are more accessible than many of the tracks on Science Fair. I am still fascinated by Emm's ability to weave a metaphor into the tapestry of music. I wonder where the inspiration for her music comes from? Of course answering this would expose one of the great mysteries of any artist, in any culture. It is certainly better to ask the question than to have the answer.
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