Emily Wells
By Melanie Roberts
Photo by Amanda Lopez
Who in her left brain would turn down the professional advances of a major record label at the green age of 18? The highly idealistic, immutable, L.A.-based indie/freak-folk artist Emily Wells, that’s who. It has been seven years since Epic Records dangled the golden carrot of fame in her face, only to have Wells slap it away with a refusal to relinquish creative control. Her 2006 self-release, Beautiful Sleepyhead and the Laughing Yaks is a multi-instrumental, self-written, self-recorded and self-produced reaffirmation of her decision to stay true to herself and her music.
All 14 tracks are fingerprinted with Wells’ unique approach to music. The album’s instrumental complexity sets it apart from more traditional folk. Likewise, her vocals are playful, fluctuating between fragile and precious, mischievous and seductive. But it’s the sensuous string arrangements and Wells’ rediscovery of the piano that separate this album from her previous ones. The addition of drums (Sam Halterman) and stand-up bass (Joey Reina) also enrich songs, helping Wells meet her goal for the album. “I wanted it to feel lush, like you can lay down in it,” she says.
According to Wells, her eighth DIY release, Beautiful Sleepyhead and the Laughing Yaks, is her most developed work so far. “I’ve released a bunch of my own records, but they’ve all been like going to college for this record,” she says. At age 25, Wells has already had a lot of schooling in music and, more poignantly, the music industry. Her story with Epic Records began when Wells was 16 years old. The teen released an album that caught the attention of the label’s vice president of A&R. Soon after, Wells was in the “development” process as a “priority artist.” In other words, Epic was priming Wells to be a shining star. But after two years of refusing to sign over creative control, Wells walked away. She owns up to her naïveté and her insight, “I didn’t know shit! But I did know that I couldn’t let go of creative control.”
A child artist by nature and nurture, it’s not surprising that Wells couldn’t fathom giving up the rights to her art. Under the wing of her “very devoted, supportive parents,” Texas-born Wells began her musical education at a very young age. “I was four when I started playing the piano and violin,” she says. Wells credits her father, a Christian music minister and French horn player, for her musical upbringing.
Her long-term bond with music is blinding on Beautiful Sleepyhead and the Laughing Yaks. Wells sings and plays most every instrument, including the guitar, banjo, violin, piano, Hammond organ, glockenspiel and xylophone. She also gets creative with her violin, using a tune-down technique to get a viola sound and a pedal to get a cello sound. After recording each part separately, she mixed them together to create the album’s warm string arrangements. “There will be like 12 violin parts and six cello parts so you get that rich chamber feel,” Wells says.
Lyrically, Wells plays around with the positive sides of life and love. In the album’s opening song, “Mt. Washington,” she dares her lover to begin their life together: “Forget the mortgage and the end of time / We’ll blend together like bleeding lips / And trust that death’ll be our dying wish.” Wells also hits on other themes like sex, politics, religion, and absolution by way of turpentine.
Wells’ Beautiful Sleepyhead and the Laughing Yaks overflows with creativity and expressiveness, serving as the perfect reminder to never lose your creative control.
www.emilywellsmusic.com |
