Hong Kong-born Emmy the Great embraces her Chinese side
A new EP and tour are proving a rebirth of sorts for the singer, now living in New York, who says she's found her voice and stopped trying to show how British she is
sometimes wakes up to voices lingering from her dreams. She then grabs her phone and records brief a cappella lilts in a state of semi-slumber.
"I write text messages to myself sometimes, too," the 31-year-old singer-songwriter says. "I make a note of stuff. If an idea keeps coming back to me, I'll look for it wherever it is."
These fragments of sounds and words, as close to a flash of inspiration stereotype as most musicians will get, will eventually become Emmy's songs; it is how she has produced her two albums, First Love and Virtue. Her latest release is an EP titled S.
Emmy the Great (real name Emma-Lee Moss) was born in Hong Kong, was educated from the age of 12 in the UK, moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career, and now resides in Brooklyn, New York.
We meet at a hipster hangout in the borough's Williamsburg neighbourhood where Moss has lived since last August with her boyfriend. "I hate it," she mutters, her eyes scanning streets toppling with twee gentrified bars and men with twirly moustaches. "Have you ever heard people scream on the subway? They're screaming because this city has driven them mad."
Although New York is her temporary home, Moss keeps strong ties with her other homes — when we meet, she discusses a book of Anglo-Chinese poetry she's reviewing for The Guardian (where she is a contributor on books and music) and airs her views on last year's political unrest in Hong Kong.