Edinburgh-based electro-pop artist Emilie releases her soaring, atmospheric new single Never Enough on 10th March via Depot Records.
We caught up with Emilie to find out some of her most influential songs in today’s Life Is Like A Box Of Records…
‘Comfortably Numb’ – Pink Floyd
Growing up my Dad was definitely the most musically inclined out of my parents and he was always playing Pink Floyd in the house. ‘Comfortably Numb’ always stood out for me for its darker nature, which I think is something that has stuck with me stylistically for sure.
‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ – Tears For Fears
Picking a Tears For Fears song was pretty hard to narrow down, but this was probably one of the many songs I grew up listening to, thanks to my Dad where my love for synths/ reverb and airy vocals began.
‘C’est La Vie’ – B*witched
Slightly different one here, but the first band I ever went to see live at the SECC in Glasgow. I could not get over how small they looked having had this idea I’d be up close, able to see them clearly on the weeks leading up to it.
‘Kids’ – MGMT
This song was being played constantly when I went on my first school trip abroad to Belgium when I was fifteen. I went to a really unusual school where you started from age three, right through to eighteen, so my school friends hold a particularly special place with me. This reminds me of our teenage years – not caring about much else but spending all of our time together growing up.
‘Hold You In My Arms’ – Ray LaMontagne
When I first moved away from home and went to college, I struggled quite a bit with being homesick and missing all my friends I grew up with. I remember listening to Ray LaMontagne, and this song in particular, in my room at halls feeling probably a little too sorry for myself. Lyrically beautiful and sad.
‘Such Great Heights’ – The Postal Service
I heard this when I was first at music college. I’d heard Ben Gibbard as part of Death Cab For Cutie, which stylistically and instrumentally is worlds apart from The Postal Service. At the time I was working with just my voice and piano and was keen to get into the more electronic side of things. I guess this was one of the first tracks I was really like, “yeah it’s totally possible to flip your style…”
‘Animal’ – Miike Snow
The very first time I went to a music festival I saw Mike Snow and I remember being ridiculously excited to see them having heard the likes of ‘Animal’ and ‘Paddling Out’ before I’d gone. I remember being so fascinated by their set up – it was a whole new experience for me, seeing bands live at a festival.
‘Milk And Black Spiders’ – Foals
Foals released the Holy Fire album around the same time I had got into writing properly, and this track stuck out for me a lot because of its lyrical simplicity and clever use of imagery.
‘Let In The Light’ – Moderat
I’m so influenced by Moderat, I had to have them in here somewhere. I actually found it difficult to pick which one of their songs I would choose for this. I found out about them a couple of years ago when I was a student. Their use of unusual percussive sounds, huge synth pads to build sections and vocal samples are all things I’m really inspired by.
‘Cigarettes And Chocolate’ – Chet Faker
When I first heard this in around 2012 I was so fascinated at the use of just 2 vocal samples and a few different layers coming in and out and how it much you can do with that to create a five and a half minute track that’s so interesting with so little.
‘Science Fiction’ – Christine And The Queens
The Chaleur Humaine album came out just before I went into the studio to record my debut EP last September and I guess it always reminds me of that time. I was totally terrified to be releasing for the first time and whether I would be liked or not as an artist. I guess I just soaked myself up in her notion of not really giving a f*ck.
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