With the recent release of her third studio album, ‘You, Me And The Velvet Sea’, Adelaide singer-songwriter Emily Davis has planned a number of east-coast shows this month.
“It’s so nice to spend so long crafting songs and then recording them and thinking about all the artwork,” explains Emily about the work that went into ‘You, Me And The Velvet Sea’, “and thinking about the story you want to tell and then finally having something in your hands that you can say: 'I made this and this is what I wanted to make and it sounds beautiful.'
“We had so much generosity by the suppliers and the musicians and production team and the recording guys. It was just such a huge group effort, so it sort of felt like all of us were really invested in that launch of the album.”
Emily is excited ahead of her upcoming shows and is eager to travel with her band. “I’m super excited. I’ve got a really, really awesome band - all ladies. We haven’t been on tour together before, so this is going to be a bit of a first for us,” she says.
“We are very lucky as we all get along super well so I think the tour is going to be lots of fun. This new album is a little rockier than before, so our show we've put together has lots of energy in it.
“We've got lots of gritty guitars and textured layers with electric guitars and a beautiful soaring fiddle that kind of offsets that gritty, grungy edge.”
Emily released her debut album ‘Moving In Slow Motion’ in 2007, followed by ‘Undone’ in 2011. “I guess [my] genre is kind of folk and roll. I think that’s the easiest way for me to describe it. So some of the songs are sort of more folky and some of them are more rocky, so we warp that line between folk and rock.”
When it comes to performing on stage, Emily enjoys embracing the bright lights. “There’s something really special about performing live that I love. Just being able to transfer the energy between the crowd and the music and having a bit of a banter with them; having a chance to explain the meaning behind the songs is a great thing that I love doing in my live shows.”
Emily has recently released a music video for the first single off the new album, ‘Hold On’. “The song is a big, love song and it’s kind of about the transformative power of love.
"So how there’s this divine other-self that sort of lives under the surface, and when you feel that really huge love it kind of comes out, and you sort of become a bigger person and better person in that way.”
Emily wanted to capture this concept in the music video and is very happy with the final product. “We had a lot of laughs when we were shooting that so it was good fun. Very happy with it,” she says.
“It was just a really fun process.”
‘You, Me And The Velvet Sea’ is available now.
Emily Davis Tour Dates
Thu 17 May - The Spotted Mallard (Melbourne)Fri 18 May - Stag & Hunter (Newcastle)
Sun 20 May - The Junkyard (Newcastle)
Sun 26 Aug - The Wheatsheaf Hotel (Adelaide)
7, 14, 21, 28 Sep - Grace Emily Hotel (Adelaide)
