(photo by Charlotte Zoller)
Considering I've known about her for almost a year to the day, I probably should've mentioned dream pop chanteuse Emily Reo far sooner. After getting caught in her undeniable wave of feel good melodic haze at DelinquencyNYC last August and reliving the magic a couple months ago at FMLY Fest Brooklyn, not immediately sharing Emily Reo with the uninitiated is probably one of the biggest flubs I could make.
Normally the stuff of plentiful, intricately lain layers and unfathomable depths of beauty, Emily Reo sets herself apart from your standard dream-pop artists/bands with a rather brazen but enjoyable simplicity. Relying almost resolutely on infectious melodies, Reo may set them aloft on undulating seas of sounds of her own design but they are always the focus - percolating above creamy synth counter melodies or toe-tapping, song-leading beats. The beauty of Reo's songs come from this and the fact that she uses her voice as another instrument for her to play with and alter like in "Coast" when she effects her vocals. Never quite becoming robotic, they shift between organic and digitized.
It's a trope employed rather frequently that never quite loses it's appeal due to the fact that Emily Reo places such high importance on melodies - often having songs composed almost entirely of musical interludes with the vocals playing an important but more diminished, less featured role. Calm, lilting, and silky smooth, Reo really leans into the dream-invoking part of her dream-pop, crafting sleepy gently unfurling little numbers that even at their poppiest and most catchy, never manage to agitate and that's just the way I like it.
Emily Reo will finally be releasing her debut album Olive Juice on September 3rd via Elestial Sound. It's sure to be an absolute gem. Until then you can listen to the Emily Reo's wide berth of tunes via Bandcamp.
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