Emma Louise

Evolving from a folk, heart-on-sleeve storyteller into an alternative pop, gender-warping, electro crooner, Emma Louise is one of the most striking singer-songwriters to emerge from Australia in recent years, seemingly capable of scoring radio-friendly chart hits or embarking on experimental, soul-searching sonic dramas. Growing up in Cairns, Emma Louise Robb got her first acoustic guitar when she was 12, and after strumming her way through Beatles song books, became obsessed with pop songwriter Missy Higgins and started writing her own confessional songs. She was still in her teens when she put out her first 'Autumn Tongues' EP on a small local label in 2008, but after moving to Brisbane and working as an event planner, it was her second EP 'Full Hearts and Empty Rooms' and the track 'Jungle' which started gaining attention in 2011. Championed heavily by radio station Triple J, her debut album 'Vs Head Vs Heart' marked her out as a young songwriter with more quirks and eccentricities than most strummers, and she soon caught the ear of German DJ Wankelmut. His dark, electro-house remix of 'Jungle' became a top five hit in Italy and the UK in 2013 and Emma Louise found her track being used in an advertising campaign for Yves Saint Laurent as well as in an episode of TV drama 'Grey's Anatomy'. The remix prompted her to explore more of an electro-pop sound and production aesthetic, and on second album 'Supercry' in 2016, she shaped tales of heartbreak and personal frailties with ethereal, hushed vocals and downbeat synth ballads. After a heavy year of touring and a collaboration with Sydney duo Flight Facilities, a random solo trip to Mexico helped her out of a slump and kick-started third album 'Lilac Everything'. Working with producer Tobias Jesso Jr. she used a pitched down effect on her vocals and created an unrecognisable, androgynous, baritone voice that she called Joseph. The results were extraordinary and fittingly captured songs from a period of her life where she cut her hair short, let out more aggression and describes herself as adopting more of a masculine outlook.

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