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Emma Hunter

Emma Hunter Shot to Kill Sonic Banality in Her 3rd EP, Morire

Posted on 22 April 2024

Emma Hunter’s third EP, Morire, emerges as a defiant rejection of sonic predictability, marking a high point in the Oxford-based singer-songwriter, guitarist and loop artist’s career with a collection that’s as audaciously raw as it is artistically sophisticated.

With Tom Bruce’s trip-hop-infused percussion, the 50s-inspired Flamenco-guitar-licked EP unfolds a landscape soaked in cinematic tones and intricate, chanteuse-esque harmonies that narrate a four-part poetic anthology of turmoil. Every chapter brings you closer to the darkest corridors of the mind as it navigates an imperfect world, filled with vices and prejudices.

Starting strong, Guilty pierces the veil of comfort with its visceral energy and poignant lyrics, exposing the unnerving ease with which we catastrophise – it’s enough to open a window into your own soul. This duskily strident opening salvo sets a formidable standard, intricately balancing fiery guitar work with solid percussive rhythms as Hunter lyrically unravels through an insurgence of relatable unease. The robust instrumental work anchors Hunter as she carries the weight of the world, surrounded by demons and they tease the end of the world after inconsequential incidents.

Love is Not a Choice follows, dissipating the initial turmoil into an anthem of acceptance. The track stands bold in its portrayal of love’s inherent defiance against societal norms, offering a melody that radiates warmth and liberation. As you drench yourself in the sun-soaked bliss of the flourishing serpentine rhythms, you surrender to the true, unbiased nature of love. In an era that is increasingly hellbent on insisting everyone stays within the heteronormative mould of hegemony, you see that the only choices made in relation to love is discrimination.

Awaken Me introduces itself with Hunter’s looped vocals artfully circulating over waves of ambience before the first verse crashes onto the shore of the single, plunging into the thematic deep waters of personal rebirth and spiritual stagnation. You can’t help but be pulled into the undercurrents of the compassionate lyricism which aims to pull the listener out of deep water as Hunter aches for an emotional awakening. The interplay of confession and compassion opens a deeply affecting affirmation that sometimes, healers need to heal.

Finally, the titular track, Morire, presents a harrowing narrative of watching a loved one tend to their vices and sink into personal decay, culminating the EP on an aching note. The paralysing power in Hunter’s vocal prowess reaches its zenith here as she exudes primal agony while never losing her ability to artfully hold notes in a delicate balance of pain and pitch-perfection, delivering a poignant exploration of loss and helplessness with a backdrop of soul-stirring crescendos.

With the Morire EP, Emma Hunter, alongside Tom Bruce, carved a niche in the alternative music scene that resonates with both intimacy and grandeur, making the release a compelling listen for those who seek depth and defiance in music.

Morire was officially released on March 29; stream the EP on Spotify and Bandcamp.

Follow Emma Hunter on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Oxford singer-songwriter Emma Hunter brought Latino Post-Punk to UK shores in her artfully augmented single, Guilty

Posted on 29 October 2023

If Iggy Pop is the Passenger, the Oxford singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist Emma Hunter is the driver in her biggest single and battle of conscience to date, Guilty, which hit the airwaves on September 29.

With her artful sonic signature scribed through her Flamenco guitars augmented with a brashy and garagey high-octane post-punk energy that will ensnare fans of Siouxsie Soux and Debbie Harry, this guilt-riddled and demon-parading evolution is a far cry from her former releases which reach the epitome of affectingly arresting.

Hunter’s new-found strident approach to enticing listeners into her conceptually cunning creativity will undoubtedly put her on the right trajectory towards the reverence she’s deserved from the outset. As much as the industry maintains that it favours authenticity and talent, her absence from the charts is a damning testament to their appetite for melodic monotony.

Stream Guilty via YouTube and Spotify and keep up to date with Emma Hunter’s new music via Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emma Hunter portrayed vices as death incarnate in her cinematically western score, Morire

Posted on 16 March 2023

Never one to shy away from emotionally deep conceptuality, singer-songwriter, loop artist and instrumentalist Emma Hunter always leaves a profoundly artful impact with her lyrical themes that exhibit the darkest facets of the human experience.

After being introduced to her superlative talent via her music video for Here I Go, which narrated the disjointed monologue of a domestic abuse victim, it was hard to imagine a more sobering orchestration. Her latest tour de force, Morire, is an achingly succinct exposition of how our vices are the death-incarnating reapers. Especially for the way they allow the people around us to watch us as we get torn away from ourselves while being too numb to feel the cuts of the scythe.

With everything written between the lines and the Tarantino-ESQUE Western score amplifying the wrenchingly cinematic intensity, you can be damn sure I shed a few tears before working out how to do this filmic masterpiece justice.

Videographer Matt Trevor-Roper, undeniably succeeded in bringing the concept to raw life. Less of a run-of-the-mill music video and more of an epic short film, Morire, is a testament to Emma Hunter’s evocative chanteuse vocal harmonies that effortlessly gel with her flamenco guitars.

Morire released on March 16th; watch the official music video on YouTube or add it to your Spotify playlists.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emma Hunter contested the heteronormative hegemony in her latest single, Love is Not a Choice

Posted on 8 July 2022

With the hypnotic grace of medieval mystic, Oxford’s Emma Hunter demonstrated that there’s nothing unnaturalistic about deviating from the heteronormative hegemony with her latest single, Love is Not a Choice.

Queerness may seem like a modern phenomenon, especially in the vision of those desperate to stand on the neck of progression, equality, and acceptance. Yet, even the most bigoted view is bound to widen to the tune of Hunter’s signature flamenco guitar loops, art-rock percussion and arcane vocal layering.

The musicality that takes you on an intercontinental sonic trip runs at the same celestial level as the intrinsic sense of spirituality in the rhythmically arrestive production. Which once again sees Emma Hunter resisting the contemporary constraints of genre.

The official video for Love is Not a Choice, directed by Matt Trevor-Roper, premiered on July 8th. Check it out via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

5 Of the Best New Indie Music Bands to Look Out For

Posted on 31 August 2021

Discovering new independent artists that blow your mind but still fly under most people’s radars is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you are left with that giddy new-sonic-experience feeling; on the other hand, you’re frustrated that the world remains blind to such talent while they bemoan the bands on the radio.

The variety of indie music means that even the staunchest of fans who proclaim to know EVERY band worth knowing won’t get to explore every corner. We’ve rounded up five of the best independent artists who have left an ever-lasting impression on us at the outset of their careers, during a pandemic, nonetheless. We waited for the great art that would follow times of great suffering; the five artists listed below delivered.

1. Emma Hunter

The ineffably sensational Oxford, UK-based alternative artist Emma Hunter appeared on our radar with her conceptually compassionate music video for her single, Here I Go, in January 2021.

Her debut single explores domestic violence with profound grace by creating a protagonist gripped with indecision on when to leave an abusive relationship; the sense of trepidation creeps right through the smoky art noir release. Through her 50s flamenco and surf rock influences, she allowed the past to draw parallels against very contemporary problems, alluding to the lack of novelty in domestic violence.

We were left mesmerised by her shimmering guitars, Tom Bruce’s unique percussive flair and her vocals which could turn any soundscape cinematic. Her ability to touch upon subjects so sore with unflinching passion without rubbing salt in the wound is phenomenal, to say the least. Any time spent listening to Emma Hunter’s expressive conceptuality affirms that she has exactly what it takes to become the next Anna Calvi, St Vincent or Nadine Shah.

Here I Go is the title track from the Here I Go EP, released on August 14^th, 2021. The 4-track EP is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Social Media Links: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

2. Joe Astley

With his infectious persona and singles which vary in the way that they hit hard, there was no forgetting Joe Astley after being introduced via his haunting indie folk-rock single, Revolution Postponed, in February 2020.

His seminal release with the Wallgate Band, Television Fantasy, is a vibrant indie-rock extension of what John Carpenter warned us about in They Live with plenty of sticky-sweet raucous punched pulled for good measure. There are just enough rock n roll stripes to take the guilt out of the equation when enjoying this endlessly energetic track. If you can imagine what it would sound like if Def Leppard poured some sugar on Bruce Springsteen, you will get an idea of the all-consumingly sweet sound Astley offers.

Now a resident artist at Liverpool’s iconic Cavern Club and with the backing of the likes of Clint Boon, Robert Carlyle and the BBC, it is only a matter of time before Joe Astley sheds his status as an independent artist.

Grab yourself a limited-edition vinyl copy of his 4-track debut EP here. Or check out the EP on Spotify.

Social Media Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

3. Damn Jackals

The proto-punk artists responsible for the stickiest earworm of the year easily earned a spot on our top 5 indie artists list. If any track is going to leave you disco dancing in your bedroom, it is the raucously romantic indie garage rock hit, Lovely Nuthin’ by Damn Jackals, which was released this summer.

From the indie punk-rock hit, expect swoon-worthy vocals with reminiscence to the Strokes, vintage guitars and plenty of doo-wop nostalgia from the slicker than slick Brooklyn, New York-based 5-piece. Since making their debut, Damn Jackals have garnered plenty of attention for their tendency to explore between genres instead of within them. How they haven’t already reached the same heights as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the Black Keys is beyond us.

Lovely Nuthin’ is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.

Social Media Links: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

4. The Maitlands

The Manchester-based indie post-punk outfit The Maitlands have plenty in their aural arsenal to easily distinguish themselves from the stiff geological competition.

They released the timeliest single of 2020 with their seminal release, Where Did it All Go Wrong, which offers a far more vocally vulnerable swagger to most post-punk crooners paired that certain brand of euphoria that can only spill from thrashing angular indie guitars.

Where Did it All Go Wrong was subsequently followed by the stormer of a single, When it Rains, it Pours; the vocals act an anchor in the tumultuous chaos brewing between the grungy basslines, scorching hot guitars and frenetic percussion. Rarely can I say that an emerging artist is as good live as they are on record, but their enigmatic energy is a refreshing exception.

Check out The Maitlands on Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.

Social Media Links: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

5. Yellow Brain

The ensnaring atmosphere of Yellow Brain’s indie electronica sound first gripped me when I caught them live at the O2 Ritz in Manchester when some of Manchester’s finest artists came out in support of John Hall’s new charity for grassroots music on August 1^st, 2021.

The Mossley, UK-based duo’s standout single, Fast Talk, is as dreamy as any Suicide single and as moody as any Echo and the Bunnymen release. While other releases, such as Glistener, douse you in solemnly dark tones that spill from the guitars while the solid danceable beats encase the shoegazey discord. Within the vocals, you’ll find the same provocative appeal as offered by artists such as Alex Cameron and She Wants Revenge, yet, there’s almost a Lynchian feel to Yellow Brain adding yet another facet to their enticingly dynamic sound.

Catch them at one of their upcoming tour dates; until then, get acquainted on Spotify and Bandcamp.

Social Media Links: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

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Emma Hunter – Nightingale: A Lynchian Exploration of Desire.

Posted on 17 April 2021

Oxford-based alternative singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Emma Hunter has followed on from her sobering single, Here I Go, with her nefariously indulgent single, Nightingale; it’s a stunning Lynchian exploration of desire.

The multifaceted account of passion captures the highs, lows and intensities of chasing love, showcasing the strength needed to take a chance. It is singles like Nightingale which put the archetypal love song to shame. Because underneath the ‘look at me, I’m so happy, I wish this would last forever’ choruses is the pain that resides beneath the façade; that’s exactly what resonates here.

By capturing the creeping tones of the Cramps, Empress of Furs and Lydia Lunch and contorting them in loops and layers that will pull your rhythmic pulses with them and complimenting the eerie textures with ethereal classical strings, Emma Hunter’s vocals that carry the class of a 1930’s Parisian chanteuse have the perfect atmosphere to fall into.

Emma Hunter is undoubtedly one of the most mesmerising rising artists around in 2021. When venues are open, you’ll want to be present when she takes to the stage with her elegantly haunting presence.

Nightingale officially released on April 16th; you can watch the official video on YouTube. For more info and other ways to listen, head over to Emma Hunter’s official website or Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emma Hunter formidably extended the conversation around domestic violence with ‘Here I Go’

Posted on 13 February 2021

Singer-songwriter, Emma Hunter, has been the voice of popular Oxford-based bands such as AmberState and the Halycons, and since 2019, she’s worked alongside drummer, Tom Bruce, putting her own formidable spin on alt-indie-pop.

With vocals which pull you in with the same strength as Florence Welch’s or Marina and the Diamonds’ coalescing with instrumentals which veer from mainstream archetypes while retaining all of the commercial potential, it’s impossible not to become consumed by her viscerally poignant releases. The single which caught our attention and refused to let go was her latest single, ‘Here I Go’, which demonstrates how seriously Emma Hunter takes her responsibility of creating light from the dark.

Here I Go artfully extended the conversation around domestic violence by a perspective-shifting length. It exhibited the weakness of perpetrators compared to that of survivors who have been psychologically crushed or physically abused by ‘romantic’ partners. For the first time as I watched the nuanced video unfold, I contemplated the unlikelihood of abusers being able to endure what a victim does, concluding that intimidation through power is the ultimate form of weakness.

With lead guitar tones which insidiously creep throughout the soundscape, the trepidation leaves you transfixed from start to finish, it’s a track which keeps your breath bated until long after the prelude. I honestly couldn’t have more respect or admiration for Emma Hunter and her classy controversial sound.

The official video to Here I Go is available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast