Single Review: Emmy the Great – God of Loneliness
Emmy The Great’s album ‘Virtue’ has been out for nearly a year now; she’s decided not enough people have heard it, so a deluxe version is on its way in order to tempt those who haven’t yet made a purchase. With the usual ‘deluxe’ trimmings, and more rare tracks and remixes, this is a release both for the Emmy completist, and for those who are just falling under the spell of the jewel-voiced Ms Moss for the first time.
To announce the new release, ‘God Of Loneliness’ is being released as a single. Given that the album documents a particularly sudden breakup, this song fits right in, documenting as it does a one-sided conversation between Emmy and her projected demons. Or in this case the demons are reimagined as a god, although a bittersweet one that appears on the death of a relationship, rather than an omnipotent being who looks after you in times of need. The instrumentation is gentle, and features sufficient melodic undulations and harp sweeps to make it quite a summery background ditty, if we ever get a summer in this glum, rainy country. As inoffensive as a chilled glass of sparkling rosé wine on a grassy slope, and possibly more of a ladies’ favourite; men might like something a bit chewier to go with their post-breakup blues.
B-side ‘Fade Into You’ is a cover of Mazzy Star’s most famous song, and adds just a bit more vim to the original. Whether or not the song needed more vim, or struck just the right languorous tone the first time around is not clear. What is clear is that the song is a lovely, dreamy waltz with distant guitars and deserves another hearing. Just the soundtrack if you’re sharing that glass of sparkling rosé with a special someone.
Intriguingly, the single is accompanied by a ‘horror rom-com’ short film set in Emmy’s favourite brutalist tower block, Erno Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower, which inspired a track on ‘Virtue’. As a connoisseur of brutalism, it’s great news every time an example pops up in pop culture. This particular building has led a charmed, media friendly existence, having appeared in several music videos including Blur’s ‘For Tomorrow’, and benefits from residing in the well-off Kensington and Chelsea borough of London. Certainly modernist, but due to the softening of its concrete expanses with numerous windows and walkways, maybe less brutal than impolite. Due to its location, fame, and listed status, Trellick Tower is to be spared the ignominy of demolition which is befalling so many of its contemporary brethren. The song gets an extra point for bringing up the topic of brutalism.
7/10
The deluxe version of ‘Virtue’ is out now. ‘God of Loneliness’ was released as a single last week (the 7th of May) on Close Harbour. Grab the Dems remix of the song on this previous MP3 of the Day post.
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