NYC-based multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells produces and records her own tracks, often using instruments of her own creation, or at least tinkering with what she’s got. Last year’s Mama was sultry and lush, layering and distorting Well’s raspy, longing vocals within synths and other effects. But denying her own temptation to build and bury, Wells just announced a new recording of her Mama songs, this time with only vocals and guitar.
Mama Acoustic Recordings, due out this summer on Partisan Records, makes a folk singer out of Wells, one with more unpredictable and interesting vocal stylings ala craggy crooner Karen Dalton. Though the songs sound familiar, they’re more deliciously raw, and Wells’ sometimes-whisper stands out stark and haunting in the stillness of the new versions of standout tracks like “Mama’s Gonna Give You Love” and “No Good.”
“It was kind of like I was discovering the demos after the album was already recorded and released,” Wells says of the new recordings. More than sketches, the stripped-down versions of Mama’s songs seem to be discovering themselves, letting you in closer than the original release ever did.
Mama Acoustic Recordings is out June 11, and see Emily Wells live in the late spring, early summer.
Tour dates:
April
07 Iowa City, IA – Mission Creek Festival
May
01 Mechanicsburg, PA – Larsen Student Union at Messiah College
02 Ithaca, NY – The Haunt
03 Buffalo, NY – Ninth Ward
05 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
08 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick Lounge
09 Indianapolis, IN – Radio Radio
10 Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
17 Blairstown, NJ – Historic Blairstown Theater
June
13 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
14 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
19 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
20 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
August
08 Hart, MI – Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (Main Stage)
