Folk Phenomenon Georgia van Etten is serving with her Latest Single “Emma Lee”

Melbourne born, UK residing folk phenomenon Georgia van Etten is changing the pace with her latest single “Emma Lee” a country, folk influenced track that is gloriously unforgettable. 

“Emma Lee” is the third single from Georgia’s new album Deep Black Water, also released today. Signalling Georgia’s multidimensional talents, “Emma Lee” is vastly different from the recently delivered title track “Deep Black Water”. With far lighter, more lively harmonies and melodies, Georgia is proving she is a versatile force with this song. 

“I’ve never written a song so fast as Emma Lee,” said Georgia. “It sounds pretentious when people say a song just ‘poured out’ of them- but it did just that, it poured out one morning. I almost awoke singing the chorus! It’s the only song on the record not directly about me, so perhaps it helped being somewhat removed from the subject matter, in that it allowed me to write more intuitively.”

Commenting on the far too common tale of using a relationship for personal validation and short term gratification, “Emma Lee” observes those who use and/or want a partner not for who they are but for what they can rectify. Not only a story but an invitation for self reflection, Georgia asks us to review ourselves and our relationships to uncover the things you hate about yourself are most likely the things you’ll hate in someone else. 

“The song is inspired by the ex-girlfriend of a close friend and is written from his perspective,” said Georgia. “The lyric ‘you need to know yourself, you can’t do that through me’ acts as a plea to his partner to commit to dealing with her problems with him and not through him.” 

Van Etten and Producer Edwin Ireland with help from instrumentalists like guitarist Mike Redfern, Violinist Jed Bevington, Organ extordinair  David Ferris, drummer Oscar Reynolds’ established the goal of a southern style country vibe for “Emma Lee”. Complete with layered percussion loops inspired by Simon and Garfunkel’s song “Cecilia”, banjo, mandolin and folk infused violin, this track is achieving its country ambitions. 

Georgia van Etten is keeping us on the edge of our seats waiting for her new album, especially after this brilliant track. We can't get enough.