Emma Mullings is finishing her year on a high.
The actor/ writer/ radio announcer and mum of two has returned to her first passion of songwriting, releasing her debut EP, ‘Skinny Roads’, in October.
An accomplished entertainment personality, Emma is already a recognisable face and also hosts her own radio show on Hope 103.2 in Sydney. She says that writing and recording ‘Skinny Roads’ is a second chance at a childhood dream she thought was long extinguished. “Music is actually my background and when I moved to Sydney, at the time I was in a band gigging a lot on the pub circuit and was really involved in music,” Emma says.
“Somewhere along the way I took a bit of a break, and that break ended up being five years,” she laughs. “So before this EP I hadn’t sung or written a song in five years; it was a pretty big break and I really felt like it was time to sing and write again. The beginning of last year I started doing that and this EP is what has come out of that. It’s kind of like a dream reignited.”
The title and lead single, ‘Skinny Roads’, refers to Emma’s own beliefs about one’s purpose in life and how to fulfil it. While Emma has never hidden her Christianity (Hope 103.2 is a contemporary Christian station and the lead single topped the Australian Christian Charts for three weeks), she explains that neither the song nor album is necessarily about a religious calling. “I don’t want it to sound too over spiritual,” she says.
“But it’s about following the God-call on your life; your destiny, and sometimes that’s a skinny road and it’s a bit bumpy. There are some boulders and some bricks and all your friends might be on the wide, easy road where it looks so much simpler.
“But you know that when you get to the end of your days you’re not going to be satisfied with your life because you haven’t followed that skinny road you know you’re meant to and fulfil your destiny.”
Emma is also celebrating another career benchmark this year as she was voted Artist Of The Year at the Australian Independent Music Awards in October, validating her choice to once again pursue music. “It was really exciting and definitely a huge milestone, and because I didn’t expect it, that made it more special,” she says.
“It’s been hard work and as an independent musician there’s been a lot of sacrifice that goes into it, and it’s nice to have that recognised and have people enjoy the music. Songwriting is quite a personal thing and you’re never sure if people will like it or get it, so it’s been incredible.”
As Emma walks her own skinny road, she hopes that road takes her and her music around the country for live performances. Although she’s only played around Sydney so far, she hopes to tour the EP nationally sometime in 2017. “I’ve been doing a lot of shows around Sydney but I don’t have any immediate plans for a tour,” she says.
"I would like to tour the record around Australia and I would really love to do that as we get into mid next year, so stay tuned.”
The ‘Skinny Roads’ EP is out now.
