[Friday Feature] Emily Rice: Interview + New Single 'Over Time'
KATIE BROWN - 11 DEC 2020
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Auckland-based Emily Rice is back with a brilliant new single “Over Time”. It’s a catchy, upbeat track about the damage created by being trapped in an unhealthy relationship. Emily’s jazz background is evident in the clever vocal scats throughout the song, and the track itself shimmers with gentle guitar riffs quickly shifting into a driving, electronic-based chorus that sweeps the listener along on a journey of dreams versus reality, while highlighting the importance of gaining perspective on such situations over time.
The track is the first single from Emily’s upcoming EP Auaha, due for release early 2021. The fourth EP under the moniker Emily Rice, it marks a foray back into solo territory for Emily. Also part of husband-wife, two-time Silver Scrolls finalist, bilingual duo Aro, Emily, like so many, found herself with a large amount of freed-up time on her hands after a 20-show Aro tour was cancelled early this year due to level four lockdown. Writing a song a day became a challenge Emily could throw herself into, and the new EP, produced by M J Collier, contains the fruits of this prolific writing experience. ‘Over Time’ is the perfect teaser to this special project.
Read our interview with Emily and listen to “Over Time” below.
KATIE: EARLIER THIS YEAR YOU HAD A 20-SHOW TOUR CANCELED FOR YOUR OTHER ACT, ARO. HOW DID YOU FIND THAT EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT MADE YOU TURN TO WORKING ON A SOLO PROJECT?
Emily: At first it was gutting of course! We’d been looking forward to doing our next loop around the country since the last had finished. However, we were happy to still be able to do the majority of the shows, in a new online way, which made our lockdown pretty fun, setting up our lounge as a stage and plugging in, dressing up as if we were still on tour, just without all the travel (which is definitely a highlight!). Thankful to support from Arts on Tour NZ making this online tour happen.
Having all the extra time that would have been spent travelling through this month, I decided to get pen to paper and melody to rhythm again with some solo ideas, and that’s when I began running with both Aro and Emily Rice again which felt reeeal good.
UP UNTIL RECENTLY YOU’VE BEEN VERY BUSY WITH YOUR HUSBAND-WIFE DUO, ARO. HOW HAS IT BEEN DIFFERENT TACKLING MUSIC AS A SOLO ARTIST AS OPPOSED TO YOUR WORK WITH ARO?
It’s been really refreshing for me to take time to focus on my solo music again. Charles is so keen on the direction of my solo music so it’s really nice to have him backing me 100% with my own sounds, especially now that Aro has found its feet and momentum a bit, which is moving really nicely for us - we’ve got our next project due for release and nationwide tour in Spring 2021, as well as more school workshops and festivals. It’s been nice to start fresh with Emily Rice, relaunching with this new sound and style, and getting ready to release a bunch of new tunes that are very much in a new direction for me, it’s exciting!
YOU MADE IT YOUR GOAL TO WRITE A SONG A DAY DURING LOCKDOWN EARLIER THIS YEAR. HOW DID YOU FIND THAT PROCESS – WAS IT EASY TO COME UP WITH NEW IDEAS?
I would have found it challenging if it wasn’t for this group ‘Auaha April’ that I was part of - a Facebook group who would share a new theme or word each day. Everyone would go away and ponder the idea for the day and create something to the theme. I think I was the only one who decided to take each day’s theme and use it as the starting point for new songs. I really enjoyed having the prompt and then spending a day diving deep into the topic - it reminded me of uni where I studied music, using different approaches and ideas for songwriting and getting all sorts of different prompts to begin the process with. It had been a while since I’d been writing so constantly like this, and though some days were certainly not as easy to get the thoughts flowing, I was really happy with a handful of the tunes come the end of the month, and loved having the time to really focus on music.
‘OVER TIME’ IS THE FIRST TRACK FROM YOUR NEW EP, ‘AUAHA’, DUE OUT EARLY NEXT YEAR. WHAT DROVE THE DIRECTION OF THE EP?
‘Auaha’ is a collection of the songs I wrote through lockdown, 6 songs inspired by the prompts from the Auaha April group. I would write a song each day and record it, then share it with the group. The songs I chose to pursue for the EP have headed in an electronic, jazz-pop direction with some house/dance beats which I’ve really enjoyed witnessing the process of. I sent the fave demos from the month's work to my mate M J Collier who has been producing the songs and taking them to a really fresh and fun place. I knew where I wanted each song to go, and he had the skills/ear to get them there, making my rough demos pretty sweet. It’s been really great working with him, and now I’m so looking forward to sharing them all with you!
YOUR SOUND IS A UNIQUE FUSION OF MANY DIFFERENT ELEMENTS: DNB, R&B, JAZZ, ELECTRO POP – WHAT’S YOUR MUSICAL BACKGROUND, AND HOW DID IT FEED INTO THIS?
It’s the first time my music has moved into a DnB and electro pop space, initially my music was described more commonly as jazz-pop, and my tunes would often feature random little scats and things (I studied jazz for a year and have always been obsessed with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and a lot of great jazz queens). The new music I’m releasing is a reflection of the music I’ve been enjoying myself over the past couple of years. I’ve always tried to write the kind of music I’m really into myself, tunes that I actually love listening to, and this year that would be inspiration from Still Woozy, Lianne La Havas, Cosmo’s Midnight, and a particular song I’ve been obsessed with (which was my ol’ Spotify most listened to tune of 2020) - Where Angels Fear to Tread - a 1960’s song called “Fools Rush In” by The Four Freshmen, remixed by Disclosure.
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SO MANY WILL RELATE TO THE SENTIMENT OF CLINGING ON TO SOMETHING THAT IS UNHEALTHY. DO YOU SEE ‘OVER TIME’ AS BEING PURELY ABOUT LETTING GO OF A ROMANTIC INTEREST, OR IS THERE A BROADER MEANING BEHIND IT TOO? WHAT’S YOUR EXPERIENCE OF THIS?
Sometimes we do hold onto things that we ‘think’ are good, for waaaay too long. And maybe they have elements of good, but when you’re on the outside looking in at a relationship of say a friend or someone close, seeing a person you love not being loved fully the way you know they should be, it’s hard. When you’re the one in it, it’s often not till after it’s ended and you’ve been through all that emotion that you can look back and see that it wasn’t really the best. Hindsight often allows you to see the person you used to go out with/your relationship differently and often more clearly. I’ve experienced this myself in the past, but this song was written from the perspective of the friend looking in from outside of the relationship that seems like ‘the dream’ to that person, but… really isn’t.
IS TIME THE GREATEST HEALER?
I reckon so, mixed with love. And good friends.
WHAT SONGS OR ALBUMS DO YOU HAVE ON REPEAT AT THE MOMENT?
Lianne La Havas - her self titled 2020 album. And all the artists I mentioned above - Still Woozy, particularly ‘Goodie Bag’, Cosmo’s Midnight feat. Matthew Young ‘It’s Love’, Where angels fear to tread by Disclosure - just to name a few.
WHAT ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT FOR 2021?
Most of all… Having a baby in March!! Also releasing my new solo EP in Feb and touring the new Aro project in Spring - with a little 6 month old!