Artist : Emily Jean Flack
Album : Throwing Shapes
Year : 2019
Genre : Pop
Source : CDEP
Label : Cranberry Music
Catalog :
Rls.Date : 2019-04-30
Bitrate : VBRkbps
Size : 42.63MB
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1. Another Year Gone By 4:49
2. One Word 4:00
3. Not Gonna Be The One 5:20
4. Tread Softly 3:35
5. Throwing Shapes 4:31
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22:15
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An artist with a remarkable ability to blend traditional folk music with a
contemporary tone and lyrical landscape, Canadian-born vocalist, musician and
songwriter Emily Jean Flack has translated her soul-elevating experience
living, studying and creating in Ireland into a truly special and compelling
debut collection of music.
Now dividing her time between Dorchester, Ontario and Limerick, Ireland,
Flack is set to release her first EP, Throwing Shapes in January 2019û music
that is exceptionally melodic, with superlative musicianship thanks to a
cadre of excellent players, but which is imbued and enfolded by FlackÆs
soul-stirring voice and emotionally unfettered lyrics. The first single from
the EP will be released in September 2018.
Produced by Belfast native Peter Wallace, and mixed by three time Grammy
Award winning producer/mixer David Botrill, Throwing Shapes also featured
guest performances by true stars in the firmament of Irish folk music,
whistle and flute player Brian Finnegan from the band Flook and guitarist
Marty Barry.
While the spirit of the Emerald Isle permeates the album, Flack used the
inspiration and freedom she experienced living in such a culturally rich part
of the world to allow her more prevalent influences û jazz, pop, Americana
and contemporary singer/songwriter shine through. Citing such diverse names
as James Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Keith Urban, Alison Krauss, Adele and
Celine Dion as artists from whom she drew inspiration, the album is best
described as progressive folk, an interpretation that allows for a very wide
audience of music lovers.
ôAlthough I come from a traditional instrumental folk background, IÆve always
listened to so many other styles of music. And my own music has always been
more personal, more modern and more contemporary. Being in Ireland is
wonderful in the sense that itÆs so culturally rich, but there is a ferocity
and sense of independence within the music. ItÆs not cute or quaint. ItÆs
quite raw and organic. Ireland has offered me an environment to openly make
the music that moves me,ö Flack said.
Flack grew up in a very musical family. She is the daughter of Denise Flack,
who is one of the talented siblings in the ground-breaking Celtic-pop band
Leahy û one of the bands who led that genreÆs wildly popular resurgence in
the 1990s. Like many in her family, music, traditional dance and playing
instruments was simply a way of life, regardless of whether becoming a
professional entertainer was ever in the cards.
The foundation of Emily FlackÆs discipline and creative rigour as an artist
came from those early years, performing as a dancer or accompanist/background
singer alongside her family in Leahy.
While FlackÆs undeniable passion for music may have been stirred, fostered
and founded on her upbringing, it was just that û a foundation. One from
which she is just beginning to build and explore her own inspirations, her
own style and more significantly, her own voice as a songwriter.
Through her late teens, she was still interested in broadening her musical
horizons, taking music and songwriting workshops, but still wasnÆt planning
on it as her profession. In fact, she spent a number of years studying to be
a teacher in Toronto before veering into a more serious study of traditional
Celtic folk music at its source, the University of Limerick in Ireland.
ôI thought about becoming a music teacher, but then literally two years ago,
after getting my BA in the humanities I felt that I wanted to really focus on
music, which meant going to Ireland and getting my Masters in Traditional
Irish Music, with a specialization in song,ö she said, adding that some of
the people she worked with as mentors during her studies encouraged her to
write and record û now.
ôThe university brought in a lot of great Irish musicians, like John Doyle
and Karen Casey. The first day I met Karen and we were talking about what we
were going to work on together she just came right out and said, æyou need to
record. Period.Æ And here I am. So, this was the right time, because the
music was finally ready, and I had the right people around me. When I was 19
I thought maybe I wanted to be a songwriter but hadnÆt found my voice. I am
much clearer now in what I want from my music and from my approach.ö
That approach is essentially entails pouring out her heart, soul and spirit
into both music and lyrics. Even though one might hear the tinges of the
old-school traditional Celtic folk, which is unsurprising considering the
album was recorded in Ireland, with Flack backed by Northern Irish musicians,
and having the album produced and mixed by experienced Irish studio mavens,
the words and melodies are powerfully introspective, revelatory and expressed
with very modern, progressive sensibilities.
ôWriting is definitely emotional. Upon writing a song, I actually start to
understand what I am feeling or what I was feeling at the time. So, itÆs
cathartic in that way. ItÆs me really being me; itÆs my outlet. Writing helps
me understand my thoughts and feelings, which is a very contemporary way of
writing I think,ö Flack explained.
ôMy music is really driven by melody and rhythm, and then apply the lyrics
later. It usually happens when I am sitting down at the piano and playing
around and then all of a sudden, itÆs like a lightbulb goes on, and thereÆs a
spark of creative energy. What usually happens is that the process kind of
runs away on its own, so I just let it flow.ö
The albumÆs first single, Another Year Gone by, is a darkly sweet expression
of longing for someone who has gone û and who may not be coming back. ôThis
was a bit of an experiment, and musically was almost accidentally influenced
by the traditional songs I was working on for my Masters,ö she said. ôItÆs
about love again. I am saying why oh why do you cry. ItÆs about waiting on
love à and loving and hoping he will come home.ö
The title track is an ebullient and joyful expression of life through the
metaphor of dance. Throwing Shapes is a term used in Ireland and the U.K. in
the manner North Americans would say going out to boogie down or dance the
night away.
ôI always wanted to write a song about being a dancer, because I love
dancing. Dancing really means just letting yourself go. ThereÆs a sense of
abandon and losing yourself, but in a good way. And thatÆs kind of what
making music means to me û letting go and feeling deeply. And I also felt it
was a good name for the EP, because weÆre all throwing shapes to a certain
degree. WeÆre living our lives and hopefully dancing while weÆre doing it.
ItÆs about taking hold of what weÆve got to give. ItÆs a journey song, and a
movement song, and it really gives you a sense of where I am at in my life
and as a songwriter,ö Flack explained.
A very real and raw ballad Tread Softly is a heartfelt song of unrequired
love, that is still so powerfully emotive for Flack that she speaks softly
when talking about it.
ôI am saying be careful with my heart. I still love you and you donÆt know.
It is something that comes across when we never realize how much we might
make another person feel, which is beautiful, but can also seem sad on both
sides. I look at it in a positive way û the capacity that I might have to
make another person feel so deeply is pretty profound,ö she said.
At her core as a human being, and as a songwriter, performer and recording
artist, Emily Jean Flack lives and breathes music. She is unabashed in
declaring it more than her passion or vocation but her reason for being on
this earth û and we as listeners are the better for it, because if the songs
on the Throwing Shapes EP are any indication, there are many more beautiful,
lyrically deep and melodically memorable songs to impact hearts, minds and
spirits yet to come.
ôI just love music. I mean this genuinely when I say I donÆt do it because I
want to get something out of it. Yes, its what I grew up with, but I learned
very quickly it would be a very hard life if I didnÆt have itö.