BIO

Emily Wells is an anomaly among musicians most of whom spend their careers striving for a major label deal. Before she was old enough to vote, a major label was courting Wells, two music-publishing companies were competing for the rights to her songs and she was recording with award winning producers. By the time she was legally buying her first drink, however, Emily had chosen a different path. With true indie ethos, she moved from New York, leaving in her wake a lucrative deal from a major label, the renowned producers, recording studios, and a manager. During that period of her life, Emily had been offered everything that most musicians want. Everything except what she, as an artist, needed most: creative control.

Attaining the ever-elusive artist’s dream of creative control, as Wells would soon learn, comes only at a price. Wells’ cost was the thousands of miles logged, traipsing across country, playing in and outside of bars, pubs, and juke joints. She traveled in a tiny car, dragging along guitars, a tiny bass, a giant old Linn 9000 drum machine, and a four track. When flush, Emily would spend the occasional night in a seedy motel room where she would tirelessly record with her archaic four-track and dirty old instruments. Emily didn’t look back to her swank days as a would-be priority artist on a major label and regret any of her choices; she saw each obstacle in her path as a challenge. Eventually landing in Los Angeles, Wells finally learned through recording and performing, how to have the creative control she craved. Slowly building her own studio, she taught herself how to record and produce. This is the studio in which she would create, record, mix, and produce “The Symphonies: Dreams Memories & Parties” her latest release. To get the sound of a full orchestra, Emily didn’t take the easy way out and simply loop the layers of violins; instead, she played up to 21 separate tracks of violin on each symphony, often using an octave pedal to create the tones of an underwater cello or viola. In addition to the strings, there is a plethora of other sounds, electronic and organic alike. Two years ago, Wells found a bassist, Joey Reina, and a drummer, Sam Halterman, who add a richness to both the live show and the recordings. Their contributions to “The Symphonies” give the compositions more depth as well as a little junk in the trunk.

Influences, artists I like, what I’m listening to:

nina simone, bob dylan, arcade fire, bjork, amy cutler, deth p. sun, clap your hands say yeah, modest mouse, Rumi, aphex twin, the sea and cake, billie holiday, david sedaris, matmos, timmy straw, audre lorde, the shins, portishead, the switch, rufus wainwright, pj Harvey, edith piaf, gorillaz, miles davis, the simple citizens lee scratch perry, beethoven, ahmed jamal trio, raymond carver, egon schiele, cat steavens, joanna newsom, katherine dunn, truman capote, jimmy cliff, biggy smalls, brad mehldau, noyeek the grizzly bear, outkast, yeah yeah yeahs, the smiths, iron and wine, phil collins (the video artist, not the other guy!), basquiat, robert johnson, jason middlebrook, hilary goldberg, michel gondry, kozyndan, walter kitundo, buffalo springfield, dusty springfiled, action e jackson, elliott smith, toumani diabate, the blank tapes, bill laswell, richard yates, prefuse 73, chris and thomas, j.d. salinger, ee cummings, suzuki, louis armstrong, simon and the black foot, mali music, thomas pynchon, neil young, ratatat, antony and the johnstons, cocorosie, Arthur Russell, the cure, damon albarn, Dolly Parton, nick drake, Sharon jones and the dap-kings, Ratatat, kozyndan