Track by Track: Emily Magpie - 'Talk About the Weather'
Last month Emily Magpie released her debut album - ‘Talk About the Weather’ - which is ten songs of intelligent alt-pop. She took a moment to talk to us about the release - track by track.
Greta (Instrumental)
This was created as an instrumental lead in to the song All is Silence. I was listening to speeches by Greta Thunberg and got really hooked on her message that we want, or rather large corporations, want to carry on the status quo and find small adjustments to address climate change when in fact what's needed is a shift of historical proportions.The line 'green, eternal, economic growth' and the sound and rhythm of it really stuck with me, and I messed around with blending it with deep sea bloop noises and tibetan singing bowls processed beyond recognition. I wanted it to sound like a voice recording found at the bottom of the sea from a distant past.
All is Silence
I'd been reading a lot of Margaret Atwood and this song was an imagining of living in a dystopian future world where you don't hear birds singing, or the rush of traffic as they don't exist any more. And the feeling of hope and how the world quietens all around you when you look at the one you love. Love and the apocalypse, essentially. Feels weird now as we are suddenly living in a much quieter world due to Covoid-19, I hope it can connect with people in this tricky time.
Tectonic Plates (Instrumental)
I got obsessed with these youtube videos of tectonic plates rumbling that people had recorded around the world and found it so mesmerising. Listening to the sound of the planet beneath you shifting and imagining its core and all this fire and power underneath our daily existence that I rarely stop to consider. Mad. And I loved the guy with the Brooklyn accent, and the idea that someone on youtube could announce an apocalypse, felt like it sounded very now.
Rain's Coming
This one is one of the heavier tracks on the album, I was playing with some trap beats and gnarly sounding bass for this one and got so into it. It's probably the darkest song on the album as well.
'The rain's are coming
Acid rain
I hear drumming
tectonic plates.
Earthlings are running
from their blame
and the rising tide
plastic coated shame'
It's a warning about apathy and not taking responsibility for our actions and thinking about the planet we live on.
Lifting the Veil
I wrote this on an old harmonium in the house I was living in at the time. My housemates had found it in the street and dragged it inside. It had such a cool sub-bass sound on it, I loved it. I collected sounds of crackling fire and murmurations of starlings, it felt like a very Wintery track. It's about layers of dimensions that lay on top of our own, having a glimpse into them and following clues left for you.
Sounds of Reillanne
I was touring in France and stayed in a beautiful old village in the mountains called Reillanne. It's really beautiful and so far up above everything. That and the journey gave me some fresh perspective on my life and what's important. I stayed with a woman and her two young boys near Hossegor who were so kind and open hearted. It felt like these snatched moments with beautiful souls who I met and my life became entwined with for a brief moment in time. And I felt that was actually a good description for life in general and wanted to keep reminding myself of that, how interconnected we are with each other and our world and what is really important.
Make the Trade
This one is a reflection on our society and way of life. The ancient knowledge which has been lost, especially in the Western world and the effects on our psyches and souls.
'We are children
Children of me, of now
Children of the future we wait for
I see a light, has gone out'
I feel although we have such advancements in many ways, we have traded knowledge and growth for information and achievement. I was exploring if there's a price to pay for the way we live, and what is worth more.
My Universe Has Grown
I had so much fun cutting up tibetan bowls and ukulele and making lots of breath beats. It's about realising your outer world has grown because your inner world has, and allowed you to see things you couldn't before. Realising you're not alone and all you need to do is look differently.
Things I Forgot
This track I actually found a nightmare to produce, but since quite a few people have said it's their favourite on the album weirdly! It's funny I got a bit stuck on it, it was about being stuck. Coming across some images of your past and suddenly feeling yourself transported back there. I felt I'd grown and learnt so much, and become a woman but was sad for the naivety I'd lost in the process.
Changing Winds
For me this song is a tropical storm, the power of nature suddenly revealed. The idea that it was sat there next to you all along while you mistreated it, and the winds changing after it has become too much. At the same time that electricity and excitement in the air before a storm, an incoming possible catastrophic change but the strange excitement that uncertainty can bring. I was looking at my ego and all the things I'd asked for that I didn't really need, and to be careful what you wish for.