If you are not yet familiar with Emily King, an exciting discovery awaits you. Emily King is an old soul with a fresh, new style. She seems to draw heavily on the influences of jazz and soul icons like Nina Simone, Jill Scott and Billie Holiday whilst establishing an entirely unique and modern sound in each of her songs. She’s a singer-songwriter, but she’s more than that, a pioneer of modern soul with a striking personal style and a repeat-worthy approach to songmaking.
While it’s a terrible rule of thumb to judge a book by its cover, Emily King has cultivated a distinguished personal brand that accurately reflects the quality and attention to detail that sets her music apart. The album cover for the Switch features King, elegant and intense, timeless and trendy, against a simple neutral background. A simple, minimalist’s font tells you all you need to know at the top centre. Although the album is reminiscent of genres that first graced our ears many years ago, King’s jazz-inspired, mo town vocal cuts through the noise with its clarity and confidence. It is both classic and bold, as is the album art. The product is complete.
The album features a significant range of emotion and style. From the slow burning, complex love song, Distance, The Switch, which is basically impossible to sit still to, to the colourful ode to friendship that introduces us to the album, Good Friend, there isn’t a dull moment on the album. This also points to the delightfully varied content on the album. I, for one, am a sucker for songs about friendship. There seems to be a lot of focus on romantic love in the arts, and I’m a firm believer that friendship is equally important, if not more so.
Good Friend pays homage to King’s support network, and especially in the music industry, that’s a pretty essential thing for a person to have. The song features a wonderfully vibrant baseline, seamless vocal harmonies and a rock n roll electric guitar riff that gives it a whole lot of extra edge. It is excellently crafted, weaving in and out of our eardrums with moments of acapella singing and delectably timed, sometimes unexpected, pauses in the instrumental. This is a theme that runs through the album, taking back the attention of its listeners should their minds begin to wander.
Each song is unique in its own right. Believer features a beautiful staccato cello riff that supports the entire track. A male harmony joins King’s strong, breathy female vocal and gentle, fast-paced wind instruments. Bars of electric guitar appear unexpectedly, to my auditory delight, and the percussion changes and develops with the song. The song is complex, layered and easy to listen to. It demands attention in a way that improves your focus on the task at hand, rather than stealing it away.
Already There is an easy listening ballad, driven by acoustic guitar and membranophonic percussion. Distance is a smooth, soulful love song, supported by staccato piano sounds and a jazzy bass line. We get to hear the full range of King’s effortless vocals here. The gentle groove of this song is peppered with moments of interest created by a huge range of instrumentation. The result is an almost orchestral feel, a perfect match for the timeless quality of King’s vocal.
Sleepwalker and the Animals show off the excellent vocal execution that makes King so special. It’s a fast paced, melancholy voice encased in bluesy, intricate musicianship. The vocal is the main event, but the instrumentation does not go unnoticed. Rather, it highlights the best of King’s lyricism and range. The Switch is a dynamic burst of creativity and colour that proves that taking risks can be a really good idea. If you’re as talented as Emily King, that is.
