Album Review

Emmy The Great – First Love

• 27th Feb 2009

It must be difficult to be a female artist in 2009. Do you become a gobby, Lily Allen-lite? Or summon the spirit of Dusty Springfield and proclaim yourself the next Duffy-in-waiting? If you’re Emmy The Great, you choose the third way, trodden by Laura Marling et al, of saddling up with an acoustic guitar and a book of self-penned poetry.

Emmy’s delivery is occasionally clumsy, and we could have done without “Hallelujah” being shoe-horned in there, but the song isn’t content to just play itself out and becomes more and more urgent as it progress towards its conclusion. It deserves bonus points for the B-side, a cover of Ash’s “Burn Baby Burn” in which Emmy heckles collaborator Younghusband with entirely childish (but utterly hilarious) cries of “you’re shit!” The girl’s a bit harsh, in my opinion.