Sunday Sirens #3 Emily Fenton, Hello, From Planet Earth

IThe music I need to hear finds me. Emily Fenton’s album found me. There are hundreds of albums released each Friday. There are 50 or so each week in the Americana genre. 50 in folk, 100 in indie country across the various derivations. Probably even more, but that’s about what has started coming across my desk each week. Each week! And yet for this week’s edition of Sunday Sirens, I’m choosing to cover an album from 2023. Why? Because I just discovered it two weeks ago. It might not be in the latest and greatest new release section, but it should be in your playlist. This isn’t an attempt to find the most obscure new album by any means. It’s my valiant effort to shine the spotlight on a female musician who has the chops to succeed in this industry and also writes and sings some damn good tunes.

I met Ms. Fenton about three weeks ago when she stopped by the Zebra Ranch in Northwest Mississippi to record backing vocals for Spoonbend (Aaron Reynolds). They’re both from Arkansas and Aaron invited her to drive up and fill in the space in the vocal tracks on about 4 songs on his new album. She was there maybe an hour or so. She cut her vocals after hearing the bones and state of each song, the vast majority of which she was able to do in one take. I don’t know if this is the standard, but I was impressed at how quickly she understood the songs and found her place in them, with minimal direction and no correction. I’m not a musician, so how each individual finds their part in a song is incredibly fascinating to me, and the vocals were no different.

Emily is also a protege of Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers - Currently recording and touring as Jimbo Mathus and Creatures of Southern Wild + a whole array of music + producer). I’m not sure whether he teaches her, has had her sing with him, or is planning to, but he raved non-stop about her range and sound. When someone with as much experience and knowledge as Jimbo raves about another musician you listen. Even after meeting her, I found out next to nothing about her. Except for her website, emilyfentonrocks.com and bandcamp, I could only find out that she’s originally from Ithaca, NY, and appeals to roots music, Americana, country and rock n’ roll.

I had a brief conversation with her, she discussed working at a historic venue in Little Rock, her current direction in music, and she explicitly stated that her sound has changed since she released her first album, Hello, From Planet Earth. I had no clue she had an album, so I looked it up and listened. Recorded live at the historic Whitewater Tavern, it’s a 10 song introduction to the style and range of Ms. Fenton. It’s cohesive, and interesting, and she has a really powerful voice that moves from introspective to in your face and back again. My first play through, I was like wow, this is fantastic! So I listened again, and I said to myself, “Holy shit! This is the late 60’s crossed with 1994 - it’s really good.” By the 3rd listen, I downloaded the album and have been figuring my way through it since. If I make it through 3 tracks of an album, it’s decent IMHO. If I listen all the way through, I like it. If I listen again, I really like it, and if I add it to my downloads, I’ve become a fan.

Out of the blue, at the beginning of last week, I received a package in the mail. From Emily and without me asking or requesting, I received her album, some stickers, a button and a card. I was definitely not expecting it and thought it was the coolest thing. This is the first album ever just sent to me from a musician! If you weren’t sure if I was a fan before, I am now. What a wonderful surprise! Needless to say, I decided to cover it then and there for this Sunday’s Siren.

The album was released in 2023 by Lime Time Records. It has cool, late 60’s/early 70’s style, and incorporates the technicolor possibilities of the past.  I’ve never heard of Lime Time, but whatever. The production is smooth, there are only but a few hollow spots. The lyrics are smart, sometimes acerbic, and have an emotionally mature depth that lets us know this is not a young starlet. She is a woman completely in control of her thoughts, actions, and the direction she wants to take. For a debut album, thats really impressive!

Without further ado, here’s my song by song breakdown. Feel free to leave comments, tell me I’m wrong, dislike it, or whatever. I just like to share what I think is going on in each track!

T1: Favorite Song (5:01)

With fast pace strumming of the acoustic guitar, layered over, her voice enters on the 6th bar towards the middle. Her voice is layered and harmonized across the track. The song is quick paced and for a 5 minute song, it’s great. She metaphorically considers herself a song, our favorite song. And we are all hearing her “in stereo surround”. The chorus is great and speeds up the tempo even more. The drums highlight her pitch and control over the lyrics.  After the first verse we hear the electric guitar enter. Whoever the subject is, her or an other, she’s our favorite song and wants us to “play her all night long”. The song builds to a crescendo and she shows off her highs. That 5 minutes goes by too fast - I want to hear it again!

T2: Roaches (3:47)

I really dig this song. It resonates with me. I’ve been in that place. You might know the one… where your stash is empty and all you have left is the little roaches sitting in your ashtray. Who knows what kind, saliva, indica, hybrid, and when you smoke that hodge podge you never know what you’re going to get. And being stuck inside on a cold rainy day, you also get stuck in your own head. And some of those thoughts and fears can eek out through the green haze. And you're left feeling scared and alone. The TV does nothing but amplify those fears. I’m guessing since this was recorded in ‘22 and released in ‘23 that it was most likely written during COVID, and surrounded by the nightmares constantly flashing across our screens. I love the placement of this as a second song. It’s vulnerable, poetic and prophetic all wrapped into one.

T3:Fried Eggs (4:24)

From the reverb in the amp off of a few strums of the guitar, she brings us to storytime. It’s astral and pulls the Suzanne Vega strings. That she can harken us back to the 90’s with some Mazzy Star swag in her sound, it’s impressive. I like this version of her voice. She builds the song up and makes it feel like it has a deeper meaning, but she’s laying it bare on the surface. She carries her notes, keeps it in range, and builds to her highs. She makes her voice carry the weight of heaviness, but the song is about her not trying to be anything. I think it’s a tongue in cheek play on the depth we’re seeking and expecting, when really she’s just trying to sing sans expectations. Brilliant.

T4: Bulldozer (3:38)

The guitar to start this song has a growl to it. It sounds like an engine and the cadence is a work song. Here she harmonizes with herself. Not who she’s talking about but I love the concept of a bulldozer in a china cabinet. I also love the concept of being a chaos magnet. I can relate. My life feels like that a lot. The loudness and the anger, but also the passion swirled into one. The song feels like it’s circling around in my headphones. I like the mix and I like the sound of space blasters in the chorus. Again, I’m left wanting to hear this song again. It’s catchy. Her voice has a Jagged Little Pill vibe as she goes up and around the scale. The circle of love or the circle of a fight, not sure which, but it’s a circle and a cycle, and even though we’re thinking of what a bulldozer moves, I think its more about the treads on the bulldozer as it just keeps going. After finishing this song, I’m completely hooked. Her lyrical depth is outstanding. I’m completely fascinated by the metaphors she’s using and how relatable she makes them.

T5: Hello, From Planet Earth (5:12)

The signals she’s sending are that this should be a song of happiness. She’s greeting us as if we’re aliens. We’re being told about the state of the world and the state of her life. What seems like it should be a message of hope and a status check, becomes an Agent Orange song, “a cry for help in a world gone mad.” I think its actually a love song and is supposed to be talking about the heights of her love and her new marriage to a “proto-Bohemian”. But I think she’s playing with contradictions; another reason why this album has a subtle ingenious nature to it. Everything that should be one way, can be seen through an entirely different lens. As high as their love is climbing, it feels like in the call out to Planet Earth, she’s aware that it’s going to crash and burn as she hurdles back into our atmosphere.

T6: Ruthless (4:40)

This song starts out with her vocals. It’s a sing-song melody and feels like we should be in a musical. After the emotional depth of the last song, I’m expecting a contradiction between words and tone and sure enough, this does not disappoint. I kind of like it. I’m not quite sure if she’s ruthful or ruthless despite the title given to the song. She even hits the deeper notes when she drops into the lows. The surf pitch of the guitars makes this feel less like a country song, despite the fiddle, and more like we’re watching the sunset at the end of the day. It’s sweet and soft and it’s hard to believe with her words that she’s actually ruthless, despite her telling us that she is. As she points out, we can’t see under her skin, but if we could, we’d see that “she’s ruthless in love.”

T7: Sunny Saturday (4:10)

I think this is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It feels the way my mind works. I try to pay attention to all the little details of my day and gain some kind of deeper insight into the things around me. Half the time, I find myself crying - yeah, I do that - from all the beauty I see around me, or the ugliness. But like a Blue Sky Sunday, Sunny Saturdays are always a great thing. This song sticks, I want it to be the background track for every video and picture of my family and I having a blast doing something simple or adventurous on a Saturday. I love how she finds meaning in what the world has to offer her. You never know what will cross your field of vision and how you want to interpret those things is entirely up to your emotional state.  It really doesn't matter as long as its sunny. I’m going to have to listen to this one again, and again.

T8: Down in Arkansas (3:14)

This is my favorite song on the album. She makes it sound like Arkansas feels. If you read enough of my writing, you’ll see that its what I’m always searching for. I like it to feel the way it sounds. This one does, and it keeps it all in perspective. It’s about a woman living out her dream of becoming a star, but not wanting to have to sell out to the man. And if that means she needs to wait tables and clean dishes, so be it as long as she hasn’t given up on the dream or succumbed to capitalist greed. Money takes away your dreams, all those things in your spirit that keep you moving along. And as she’s saying here, thats not what this is abut and she’d rather be holed up in her small corner of Arkansas than selling out. And yeah, its selling your soul. I find myself doing the same in my small corner of southern Michigan. How far can you push before giving in to either poverty or the man. Doesn’t matter because the dream can be sustainable no matter where you try to make it from. And I like that shes singing about that on a song about Arkansas. Perspective. It matters.

T9: Pollyanna (3:53)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a Pollyanna. I’m one too. Eternally optimistic, always looking up and always having hope. In a world filled with fear and base desires, being a Pollyanna and enjoying life for what it’s worth is not a bad thing. We should welcome it. I hope that’s the reference she was inferring in this one, because it is how I took it. And you know what? If she wasn’t a Pollyanna, she probably wouldn’t have made this album. And then what would you be reading about on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon? We need more Pollyanna’s in this world.

T10: Soul for Sale (3:16)

I love love love how she closes the album with a song about the album itself. The album is metaphor for a tiny snippet of her soul that she’s laid down on wax. And she’s going to send it off to us. Is her souls worth more than the album, of course, but its an artists dilemma. We have to churn a profit to survive, but at what cost? And if we do, are we therefore contradicting the purity of our creation. It’s a good question. It’s what makes art become Art though. The lower case art is something made as a hobby and something you keep to yourself. Capital A Art is that which we make and send off to the masses to judge. When we give away our meaning and open ourselves up to critique, judgment, and other peoples meanings, we have made Art. And i think this song is a work of Art and so is this album.

For a first album, this is great and shows so much promise. Her range is incredible and she can hit the highs and lows with precision. There is not  even a drop of pitchiness in this album as she goes through a variety of styles and changes. Her voice holds true to itself and true to the songs throughout. I’m now a huge fan of Emily’s and can’t wait to see where she takes us next. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading along. Give the album a listen and let me know what you think. It’s okay if you think I’m absolutely wrong, I still want to hear it. You guys Rock, Emily Fenton rocks and I hope your weekend continues to rock as it rolls forward.

As always, get up off your couch, go see live music and always support independent country musicians.

Chris