Limerick singer/songwriter Emma Langford talks about recording the debut album Quite Giant, her folk festival tour through Europe and the promotion hustle to get her music seen and heard.
ANSWERING a phone call earlier this year from Niamh Dunne of Beoga (Ed Sheeran’s pal) led to Limerick singer/ songwriter/musician Emma Langford getting on the Irish Folk Festival Tour which takes her to Germany next month. Once Emma had done her interview with the tour bookers and secured her place, they said. “Great so you are going to be recording this album before the tour !!!”
That put a very definite deadline for Emma Langford to record and release her debut album called Quiet Giant which is ready and goes on release on October 18.
The aim for Emma with this album is to capture the essence of what the singer and her band create live on stage.
“I really wanted to capture the magic of what the lads do on stage because they are so brilliant.
“When I brought them all back together they just created something really, really gorgeous. It outshines anything you can record because they are so much fun onstage. I wanted to capture that as much as I could. I needed producers to suit what I was doing.”
After seeking advice from the local music community, Emma looked to Grammy nominated producers Graham Murphy & Chris O’Brien of the Production Suite to record her debut. The producers have worked with The Blue Nile, The Waterboys and Human League among many. They duo were eager to get in on the production and listened to albums Emma liked to get a feel for what she was going for.
Quiet Giant was recorded at Golden Egg Studios in Portlaoise. The band would assemble there and record as live. The band gelled as a unit; the producers knew how to tease the very best performance from the gathering. Emma says that she could tell the producers what she wanted and they could deduce what she was looking for.
“The minute you get there, you relax.”
It is so scenic. Up the stairs is a Yoga Studio so the whole place smells like incense.” Laughs!
“Everyone got on like a house on fire – it was gorgeous – I think I wanted to stay there forever, if I’m honest.”
Ten tracks from the recording session make up Langford’s debut album. Songs old and more recent all re-recorded for ‘Quiet Giant’.
The title track was written when Emma was a teenager.
“Quiet Giant is the first song I wrote really. I was in my teens in secondary school. It is about a guy I had a crush on who is still a good friend.
“It is a song that really represents a lovely part of my life. It is really innocent and pure, and singing it feels like I’m making teenage me proud!
“I thought that it was really important that I celebrated that on the album.”
The music on this heartfelt and immaculately performed album flows to the listener and the tracks segue into each other, a deliberate ploy to capture a live feel. And in turn, these vignettes in-between the songs will be incorporated into the live show.
The final track ‘Tug of War’ originally saw the light of day as a YouTube clip that went viral in 2016. The song was a random rush of inspiration, written, recorded and put online in the space of half an hour. ‘Tug of War’ arrived at a time when Emma felt that she was stagnating musically and struggling to cope with panic attacks of anxiety. The song and its raw blues performance struck a chord with many and marked a watershed moment for Emma and brought her through to the more positive place we find her today.
“Tug of War propels me to where I am at now and where I am going. It was the real catalyst in becoming a musician. It is a nice way to round off the album.”
Emma completed her Masters at The Irish World Academy of Music & Dance this year and awaits graduation next January – which leaves her free in the meantime to promote and tour her album.
Emma was awarded Best Female award from Pure M online culture magazine recently – an indication of how far the singer/ songwriter has come in the last year. And all before the debut album and tour!!
Promoting your music and your brand without financial backing is a grind reserved only for those crazy enough or for those with enough love for music in their soul.
What has Emma learned from her experiences gigging, singing songs of Newstalk FM’s business show and getting on the folk festival circuit.
“I’ve learned that it is serious work – the amount of sleepless nights and how extensive it all is has been a huge learning curve.
“You have to have a love for it. You have to take every opportunity that comes up. I’ve had advice from loads of people – so I’ve got a bloody brilliant community around me wishing me to succeed which makes the world of difference.”
As an independent artist without major financial backing, Emma has her voice, her songs, her shows and her social media presence and the time that all that takes to promote her work.
There has been plenty of discussion online and on-air about gender imbalance in pay rates, management roles and in who tops the bill on the festival circuit. Has Emma encountered any negativity so far?
“It is too early to say!
“If I have, it’s rolled off my back because I’m a bit oblivious.”
“The only thing that kinda hurt was the usual begrudgery of – Shure your one is full of herself isn’t she – off on social media again …. like … Oh, for God’s sake – would she give it a rest!”
“What people don’t realise is how much you have to do that stuff, no matter how crippling your own self doubt is. No matter how much you don’t want to be on social media, you still have to do it – people can quickly forget about your name in a heartbeat.”
“No matter how much your friends and family see your face on social media, another person might only see one of these posts, you have to keep pushing yourself out there.”
Her other pet project ‘The Limerick Lady’, a festival promoting female creatives, continues. There is a strong online presence and occasional shows at Chez Le Fab on Arthur’s Quay promoted under The Limerick Lady banner.
“It will have to take a backseat because I’m touring, which is a weird thing to hear myself say.”
The debut LP from Emma Langford – ‘Quiet Giant’ – comes out on October 18. emmalangfordmusic.bandcamp.com to order one of the limited edition copies.
Emma Langford and band play Dolan’s Warehouse on December 2.
