Emma

French Renaissance chansons meet songs by Leonard Cohen: a great modern singer-songwriter, a "troubadour", passed away in 2016. This programme, is a tribute to his art, and provides a link to the French Renaissance chanson.

Emma Stevens swaps folk convention that marked her previous records for brighter pop waves. Her fourth studio record, Light Year, out today (April 30), remains earth-bound with her rootsy songwriting style, yet leaps through the stratosphere with starry patterns, decorative synths, and programmed beats. “When I write an album, I don’t tend to specifically set out to make sure all the songs blend well,” she tells American Songwriter. “I really like a lot of different music, and that gets reflected in what I make. This album has a lot of ups and downs, I’ll give you that.”

Emma Myldenberger have a unique sound, essentially acoustic, mixing various elements from authentic pagan folk to medieval and psych-progressive rock. Their first album was released in 1978. Musical themes are closed to ancient music, ritualistic in nature. The instrumentation essentially refers to a nice orchestration made of guitars, oboe, ocarina, mandolin, crumhorn, hand percussions, with addition of a fragile female voice and an almost eastern-like exoticism. Their second album called "Tour de trance" is considered to be one of the most achieved psych-folk listenings. A very ambitious effort made of high quality kraut-folk improvisations. After two releases the band formed the Radio Noisz Ensemble (Third Ear Band, Between similar musical experiences). Garden of Delight reissues contain some precious informations about the band short history. An important document.