Rogue Jones - Terry Emm
Recorded during a 5 year period which started whilst Bethan and Ynyr (Rogue Jones) were expecting their first child and ended just before the birth of their second child. Dau Fabi. Two Babies. Dos Bebés, is an album exploring life in all its messy glory – light and dark, profound and ridiculous….Raw, bombastic, vulnerable, gentle, big, playful. LIFE and LIVING….BEING ALIVE, embracing the imperfections and seeing the beauty in every moment.
“The initial sessions back in 2017 were experimental and meandering; we turned up in Tŷ Drwg (the studio home of our longtime producer Frank Naughton) with only very loose sketches of songs and often built the song up in the studio in an extremely liberating way of composing and recording.
By the end of the recording process, in winter 2021, we were up against it to finish the album before the baby arrived so a more raw and impulsive approach was taken.
The fact that we have two main song-writers who have quite different styles and influences means that the band’s songs tend to be quite varied in genre. Our first album was quite varied in its musical style and instead of intentionally trying to hone down to a ‘Rogue Jones’ sound for the second album we just wrote and recorded however we felt and embraced the eclectic nature of our sound. And it turns out that even when we try to make 70s disco, thumping dance music or soulful ballads; it still somehow comes out sounding like us and us alone.
Some songs deal directly with parenthood, but all songs are viewed through the prism of becoming parents in a way, whether they’re concerned with spirituality, religion, politics or anything else.
The album takes us through a 5 year period of our life - from hearing a baby’s heartbeat for the first time, through childbirth, toddlers scribbling on things, to pondering why so many new fathers take up Iron Man triathlons, alongside the varied themes and thoughts that floated through our heads - a song that came fully formed in a dream, one based on an alien conspiracy theory, mathematical conundrums, and politics of love. It’s a representation of our subconscious in this time.
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‘Island Soul’ is the third single to come from critically acclaimed Hertfordshire singer-songwriter Terry Emm’s forthcoming fourth album ‘Wish You Were Here’, due out May 19th. ‘Island Soul’ is a departure from the previous two singles ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘November Evenings’, which are both richly woven melancholic Americana tracks.
‘Island Soul’, however, is a joyous calypso built on nylon strung guitar and an infectious shuffling rhythmic groove, with Emm’s storytelling bringing emotions through amongst the lazy surf-folk vibes. Maz O’Connor’s sweet guest vocals elevate the repeating hummed sections throughout this story of an Island romance.
On the song, Emm said, “I love the atmosphere of staying in a hotel and it’s somewhere where I often find inspiration to write. There’s a certain mystery in the air as to who might also be staying there and who I might meet. When I wrote ‘Island Soul’, I was thinking slightly of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Chelsea Hotel’, but it’s also loosely based on an old demo song I wrote as a teenager about wanting to escape to live on an Island.”
Produced by and featuring the instrumental talents of Lukas Drinkwater, ‘Island Soul’ is sure to turn heads with its colourful beach-ready sound and catchy hooks. The vibrant animated video for the track, created by Holly Mcintosh & Sam Wisternoff, is a hazy daydream of dancing crabs and mermaids as Emm imagines disappearing to live on his very own desert Island. It’s another exciting single of what’s shaping up to be a gorgeous and unpredictable fourth album from Emm.
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