I would love you, if you told me there was something there to love

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Emmy the Great - First Love

Twee. Country. Pastoral. Folk. Intimate. Whining. Heartfelt.
All of these words at one moment or another accurately describe the debut of Emma-Lee Moss. The collection is at first listen fairly standard, if well executed, singer-songwriter stumstrumstrum earnest voice and twinkly noise fare. Then it grows and as the words permeate the layers of little sounds it strikes as a more mature offering than first impression.
So how does it all balance out? I sort of feel this album is holding back on me. That it gives the impression of baring the soul and sharing secrets but really is a few bases shy of really putting out.
There is lots different sounds playing together across this album. They come and go. The production drops to low at some points but it still manages to sound polished. There are different time signatures, evocation from country ballad to pastoral folk (and they're further apart than you might initially think). From the marching band beat to the romantic fatality of the waltz, they're all here. And I toe tap and realise I think it's nice and I'm enjoying it. But just like a plain digestive is nice going a little further and having a chocolate digestive is so much nicer.
There are points where the sounds never quite peak and the nagging feeling that something is missing pervades.
The lyrics fill some of the gaps left by the missing layers. And sometimes they do become that achingly open touch, the sort that seeps rather than strikes. The Easter Parade may seem nothing more than a pleasing ditty on first listen but lyrically it rises above. Wordy and crammed with references it may be but it paints a picture in the minds eye.
It's inconsistent though, lyrically. While in parts it can be beyond Emma-Lee's years in other places an immaturity, a sort of teenage life's-not-fair undertone. And it's hard to tell whether really it is opening up or if some lines are meant to shock.
But the ambiguity about the lyrics aside this is a pleasant set of songs for a debut. Teenage anti-folk right now but given time to grow up the next release may have taken that next step and give it all.

*Yes, I know this album has been out ages but its only just come into my possession. And I do say upfront I may not be quick ;)