Emmy The Great

The name suggests ego, the lead singer of a punk band perhaps, or a rap queen in the mould of Missy Elliott. Female with attitude, however, couldn’t be further from the truth; Emma Lee-Moss plays twee, modern folk, watches ITV and loves New Kids on The Block. A remarkable lady indeed.

With Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire full and expectant, Emmy the Great arrived and charmed the quietly appreciative audience, armed with stories and a singing voice, and little more. Despite being accompanied by a band consisting of drummer, violinist and multi-instrumentalist, it is still Emmy’s voice, rather than her songs, which you notice first. Beautifully warm and clear, it is key to her success, even in the face of poor backing vocals, which are only effective on the lovely ‘MIA’, where the dual harmony adds a nice country edge to the chorus.

In terms of songs, Emmy’s limited musical style has the potential to undermine her performance. Up-tempo album highlights such as ‘We Almost Had a Baby’, ‘Dylan’ and ‘First Love’ are wisely spread out across the night and given extra musical edge by the band, but at times the concert still gets lost in consecutive similar, slow ballads. Here, Emmy is only saved by her wry lyrics, perhaps best illustrated on ‘24’. With the music stripped right down, the crowd is enthralled by the story of a lazy lover, with references to Jack Bauer and Charles Bukowski and witty lines such as ‘I would marry you for money but I don't suppose you'll ever have enough’.

Emmy’s impressive back catalogue is also used to good effect. ‘Canopies and Grapes’ is a particular crowd favourite, with its amusing references to S Club 7, Friends and Woody Allen, while the Motown groove of ‘Lost in Austin’ is a welcome up-tempo shift.
The night’s finale is disappointing - the dull plod of ‘Everything Reminds Me of You’ fading into feedback – but the gig itself is not. It is pleasant and enjoyable; just what was expected, no more, no less.