Paper forests, Jail Guitar Doors and Sweet Valley High: In conversation with Emmy the Great

Emmy the Great doesn’t shy away from articulating her feelings. From heady innocence and frank realisation to intimate sobriety, her lyrics form their own breed of musical expression. Above all they’re unique because Emmy can chirp lines like, “Now you write because you love him/Now you write because he’s kind/You write so much you look up and you wrote yourself behind” without sounding utterly pretentious.

Though occasionally blighted by financial and technical restraints, her music also veers away from the confounded folk bracket to which she might otherwise be consigned. As her stage name suggests, Emmy the Great, real name Emma –Lee Moss is one of our generation’s greatest singer-songwriters.

Unfortunately – and unjustly – she’s not one of our most celebrated. Following disappointing album sales for First Love, which was released through her own label Close Harbour, Emmy took to Pledge Music to fund the recording of her sophomore Virtue.

“I was about two months from my wedding when my ex became a Christian, so I felt at the time like religion was this thing that was sitting on me, impinging on my life,” she says, explaining her need to get on and record with or without financial help. “What dragged me out of the hole was making this album. I had nothing but instinct on Virtue. It was such an awful time. I was writing to get out of a hole, and I did.”

Ironically the emotional turmoil in her life had a magnificent impact on her music, which developed into a message far beyond the maturity of First Love. Emmy agrees: “I listen back to it, and I think – that doesn’t sound like me. It’s so sad and deep, but that’s who I was at the time. I felt about 100 years old when I was writing and recording Virtue, and I’ll always be so, so grateful for how it pulled me back to reality.”

Her personal situation was not all that propelled her. Emmy’s recent single ‘Paper Forest (In the Afterglow of Rapture)’ was written after hearing “a line from Patti Smith’s ‘Dancing Barefoot’ – “the knowledge that she is blessed amongst all women”. I wondered what that meant, and the song came out of it. It also came out of a conversation with a Spanish journalist where we discovered we both take too many notes.”

Referencing wider issues, Emmy also questions domestic oppression and the value of companionship in the face of womanhood within the folds of Virtue. “ remember that I am a woman, and have a duty to my sex to stand up for myself and, for lack of a less epic sentiment, fight on.” The product of her determination, songs like ‘A Woman, A Woman (A Century of Sleep)’ and ‘Sylvia’ bring the album’s sisterly sentiment to the forefront.

‘Feminism’ isn’t a word Emmy takes lightly, or a responsibility she ignores. She recently collaborated with Billy Bragg’s charity Jail Guitar Doors, rehabilitating female prisoners by hosting music workshops. “I am currently in the middle of devising my next round of workshops but it’s taking ages because of a new security check which I haven’t gotten my head round yet,” she admits, adding that “Billy and Alan Miles, who run the charity, are the most inspiring and wonderful people to know.”

Her detour away from music doesn’t stop there. Between writing short stories and articles for various publications, she’s also in cahoots with Summer Camp’s Elizabeth Sankey to revive Sweet Valley High’s Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield for exclusive onstage performances: “Around April this year, discovered that we both have some pretty extensive and deep knowledge of the Sweet Valley franchise,” she explains, “You don’t want to squander expert knowledge. I’ve never been amazing at anything before. This was like discovering a superpower, or being John Travolta in that movie Phenomenon. It’s a hobby that takes up all my free time and I give it gladly.” Emmy and Liz plan to release the comedy songs penned under their Wakefield pseudonyms soon.

For the time being, however, her attention is focused on the promotion of Virtue. Currently on an extensive tour of the UK, between drunkenly fighting with band mate Euan Hinshelwood, “sitting on a lady’s lap and singing ‘Valerie’ by The Zutons,” Emmy’s grown to love touring.

“I stopped hating touring a while ago. It occurred to me that I am spending my 20s travelling to places I’ve never been to before, and then to places I visit often and love like second homes (here’s looking at you, Manchester). It’s not something I want to be complaining about. I hit this point in my life when I became incredibly grateful for what I do. It has changed my life.”

Emmy The Great’s new single ‘Paper Forest (In the Afterglow of Rapture)’ is out now on Close Harbour.