Homecoming queen: Emmy the Great
London-based folk singer Emmy the Great is inspired by her Hong Kong roots, writes Doretta Lau
One rainy day late last month, Londoner Emma-Lee Moss, better known as recording artist Emmy the Great, was back in Hong Kong where she was born and learnt her first instrument. (The guitar, she says, but then confesses to repressing years of piano lessons.)
The modern folk singer was in town to play two shows: a private party for Chivas and an outdoor concert at K11 organised by Clockenflap. At the second event, she intended to debut new songs. "If you guys don't clap tomorrow at [any of the] songs, then maybe I'll change it before I record," she says. "You have a lot of power."
The foundation for Moss' life in music began in Hong Kong. "I'm kind of stuck in the twilight zone of Canto-pop," she says. "So I really like Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, Leon Lai Ming and Faye Wong, and I don't know about anyone post-'97."
More influential were local bands and touring acts. During the 1990s, she saw the Cranberries, Sonic Youth, Fugazi and Weezer in concert in Hong Kong. "When I was growing up in Hong Kong - and after I left I would come back in the summer - there was quite a strong band scene. Pretty much all of those kids left around '97, but there was a lot of punk bands in the '90s."
These memories make playing in Hong Kong all the more satisfying. "The first show I ever did here at Grappa's was pretty special because at that time my album had been put out internationally but I didn't know how it would do," she says.
"Then coming back after years away, it was all sold out. There was a lot of talk before I came that it was like a homecoming album and I read really nice reviews that said stuff like that. But it wasn't until I got onstage and saw all these people [who] look just like me - I don't mean as in we're all Chinese, I mean indie kids in Hong Kong. And I was like, 'Oh man. This is where I'm from'."
Her first two albums, and , are witty and charming. Moss is comfortable writing lyrics and meshing her melodies with electronic enhancements. Her third album, which she is about to record, began life two years ago in Japan, while she was on tour for .
