Cape Town Based Witchy Blues and Gothic Folk Artist Emmaleen Conjures Magic with New Album Release “The Sun Will Still Shine When You Die”
Cape Town Based Witchy Blues and Gothic Folk Artist Emmaleen Conjures Magic with New Album Release “The Sun Will Still Shine When You Die”
Born in 1991 in Namibia, Emmaleen is a force to be reckoned with in the world of independent music. As a solo artist, she has crafted a unique and enchanting niche in the realm of witchy blues and gothic folk. Following the success of her debut album Songs from the Unseen, the Unsaid and the Unborn in 2022, Emmaleen has continued to captivate audiences with her evocative storytelling and haunting melodies.
In February 2023, she unveiled The Other Side, a mesmerizing recording from 2015 that showcases the artist’s early mastery of her craft. This release served as a tantalizing prelude to her latest full-length album, The Sun will Still Shine When You Die.
The journey into the shadows continues with the release of the first three singles from the upcoming album. ‘Wailing Trees,’ ‘Sister Sister,’ and ‘Timesickness’ were unveiled in August and September 2023, giving fans a taste of the ethereal landscapes and mystical narratives that await them. These singles set the stage for an immersive experience that transcends conventional musical boundaries.
The Sun will Still Shine When You Die promises to be an inner journey into the realms of magic realism and spiritual introspection. Emmaleen’s time-traveling witchy blues and gothic folk songs transport listeners into another dimension, where bone-chilling moments coexist with raw vulnerability. The album’s slow pace, haunting vocals, resonator guitar, banjo, and sparse percussion create a sonic tapestry that is as unique as it is bewitching.
Produced and engineered by Ruan Vos (Sonic Nursery) the recording process took four days – nine hours a day of live recording and overdubbing. All songs were recorded live with guitar, banjo or piano and vocals in two to four takes. Emmaleen wrote the bass lines during the recording process on acoustic bass. The percussion was improvised with handmade instruments and a kick drum.
Being the only guest musician, Lliezel Ellick performed cello on ‘Wailing Trees’. It was Emmaleen’s intention to keep the music as clean and natural sounding as possible with an analogue ‘hands on’ approach. The process still allowed room for spontaneous creativity in the moment.
Emmaleen chose to record very quickly to capture a small window in time of focused energy. “If I became too self-aware my performance would suffer – having a tight deadline gave me no time to think and forced me to feel my way through. We purposely left in certain sounds we liked such as; clearing my throat or the sound of my shoes shuffling. This being part of the music and the nature of live recording.” She comments.
The album serves as the next chapter in Emmaleen’s artistic evolution, an amalgamation of old styles giving birth to something both timeless and fresh. In a deliberate departure from instant consumer culture, The Sun Will Still Shine When you Die invites audiences to embrace the deliberate and savor the nuances of a musical journey that defies the ordinary.
Brace yourselves for a musical experience that transcends the ordinary and takes you on a spellbinding adventure.
