EMMA - Chris and I wrote a track called "Carry Me Away" together,
and the track just came out very naturally and seemed to be the
right kind of gel for my style of singing. This song opened the
doors for producers like Cosmic Gate and Dash Berlin to get in
contact. And from then on EDM became my new home.
I felt like I finally found the right fit for my voice and melodies
that I had been looking for.
BABAK - Emma, What inspires you to write lyrics for a track?
EMMA - Usually the lyrics are inspired by my own life, my
memories, or the things I observe in friends or people around
me that have some kind of profound affect on me. I am more
inspired by the melancholic, but always with a sense of
hope. I usually look back to my teenage years and try to
capture that yearning feeling of anything being possible,
but still searching for that road to get there.
BABAK - In your experience, what makes a great vocal track?
EMMA - It is hard to explain, but that feeling when the melody,
lyrics and cords all come together to create something more than
they could have been on their own. Something indescribable
that causes a emotions to come to the surface. I think great
songs tend to be able to morph and change their meaning to
suit the situation of whatever the listener is going through at the
time, so the person listening thinks it could have been written to,
or about them.
BABAK - What motivates you to create a track and sing on a track?
EMMA - Always again that indescribable feeling of some kind
of emotion or inspiration coming to the surface and
trying to break out and be heard. Sometimes it comes
to me often, and sometimes the feeling doesn't
come for quite a while.
9. How long did your new album take to record and produce, and which microphones were used to record your vocal tracks on your new album?
The last album actually took quite some time. There was a lot of trial and error with different producers before we found the right fit with Lee Groves (Gwen Stefani, Depeche Mode) So I guess there was almost a year in pre-production, not much of which made the final cut. The actual recording process took about 3 months in the end. We used a lot of live instruments, strings, guitars, drums etc. interspersed with electronic sounds. We then went to mix with Dave Bascombe for most of the album, and Allen Moulder. The mixing also took another month or so. It was quite a long and intense process and learning experience. The remix side of the album was done after the initial album was completed. This again took another few months, however I wasn't so heavily involved in this process, it was much more of a pleasant surprise getting these tracks back.