“Easily the most bracing thing yet from an artist already more bracing than most.” – Pitchfork
"All kinds of awesome" - Drowned in Sound
"An industrial giant of a lead track that's absolutely almighty in its intentions." - This is Fake DIY
"Retaining the intensity of her debut, 'Satellites' is swathed in dark, Gothic tones with a near industrial hue." -Clash
EMA kicked off 2014 with the indomitable new track ‘Satellites’ and today she reveals the second single from new album ‘The Future’s Void’, which comes out on April 7th through City Slang.
Continuing to face the pitfalls of modern technological culture head on with this record, ‘So Blonde’comes accompanied with a striking new clip. The video was directed by director & XBXRX band member Vice Cooler, with contributions from the queen of Tumblr, Molly Soda.
“The smiling blonde white woman is the most exploited image in the world” said Erika M Andersonwhen asked to explain the new track & video. “How many bits do we have to reduce the dancing blonde babe to before she is no longer a symbol of sexiness? At what point do tits become simply bits? And who owns the sparkly dolphin anyway?” With this in mind, Erika, Vice & Molly set about creating a video that merges reality with the hyper-real version we see online.
"Venice has always been one of my favourite spots in the world; a magical place where no matter how much these rich assholes try to clean it up and present it as something it is not, it’s still this trashy beach landscape” explains Cooler.
“In this part of California culture, real life and cartoons are a very blurry line. Luckily EMA presented an idea where we could run wild with this; making this whole video full with deep/shallow commentary on the obsessive and weird culture that we are a part of.”
If EMA’s last album Past Life Martyred Saints was an inward exploration of human relationships and their toll, The Future’s Void catapults them out into space, both thematically and musically. The album meditates on universal themes of how we interact with the wider world and how that interaction is increasingly modified by technology. Through collaboration with Leif Shackelford on production duties, the sound of this record reflects these themes and instead of using electronics to create a polished, airless environment, Anderson's techno-future thrashes strongly between harsh tones and paranoia, to beautiful colour bursts and mellow guitar strums.
The Future’s Void is a record that seeks to deal with the fact that certain ideas that once seemed futuristic are now the norm, while also trying to sidestep a lot of the musical tropes that come along with exploring technology. It straddles the ugly and animalistic, the pretty and civilised, the digital and the analog and the past and the present, resulting in a timeless yet timely piece of work. And like any great punk record, it questions social convention and rebels against the status quo.
EMA continues to evoke a unique and ambitious sound that saw her rightfully recognised as one of the most singular artists to emerge in 2011, and is likely to send her back into the public consciousness once again in 2014.
Live Dates:
17.05 Aarhus, Denmark - Pop Revo Festival
18.05 Oslo, Norway - John Dee
19.05 Malmo, Sweden - Babel
21.05 Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefährlich
22.05 Koln, Germany - Blue Shell
23.05 Berlin, Germany - Prince Charles
25.05 Padova, Italy - Macello
26.05 Rome, Italy - Circolo degli Artisti
27.05 Marina di Ravenna, Italy - Hana Bi
28.05 Zurich, Switzerland - Bogen
30.05 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
01.06 Gent, Belgium - DOK-Box
02.06 Paris, France - Le Point Ephemere
03.06 London, UK - The Garage
04.06 Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute
05.06 Leeds, UK - Brudnell Social Club
06.06 Bristol, UK - The Lantern
The Future's Void Track Listing:
- Satellites
- So Blonde
- 3Jane
- Cthulu
- Smoulder
- Neuromancer
- When She Comes
- 100 Years
- Solace
- Dead Celebrity
Links:
http://www.thefuturesvoid.net/
https://www.facebook.com/cameouttanowhere
https://twitter.com/EMAthorstar
http://instagram.com/_ema_usa_
http://emathefuturesvoid.tumblr.com/