It is safe to say that the music that Emery Lee makes is not for everyone, especially if you are one of those people who like a good lyrical line and has a hankering to sing along. I’m not saying that the lyrics aren’t good or singalong-able, it’s just that there is no way of knowing as they are reduced to a warped electronic stream of bits and bytes, turned into a digital wave of weirdness and wonder, so who knows what is going on deep down. Not a criticsm, it makes things all the more intriguing and we all need a bit of that in our lves, right?
Musically we are on safer ground, Drop Kick being built on solid alt-rock guitar rhythms, an odd contrast to the fluidity and flakiness of the non-vocal line that runs across it. Other songs are just as contrasted. Bedrooms is mid-paced and indie-vibed and More is built on cascades of acoustic guitars.
It’s the vocal treatments which are going to divide opinion, act as stumbling blocks and be deal-breakers. I keep playing the tracks to see if the voice as instrument (and then some) grow on me and I’m still not sure if I love or loathe the vocals. I guess that is the whole point. But then, whatever you think of the way Emery Lee approaches the vocal component at least you won’t be able to ignore what’s going on. Love it or hate it, that doesn’t really matter, but you will notice it and you will have an opinion!
