As we enter the Top 20, we see songs appear from three of Emm’s albums for the first time: 2015’s 21st Century Ballads, 2014’s, Torrential and 2006’s Summer of High Hopes. #30, marks the last appearance of her major label debut material. We also get the first of Emm’s signature piano ballads, and her lyrics are still too impressionistic for me to get a real handle on what she’s singing about, but the songs are so well-crafted it doesn’t really matter.
#30 – Your Sort of Human Being (The Original Leap Year)
Another track from Emm’s major label debut, Public, that was also included in a better format on The Original Leap Year. I love this mid-tempo rocker, whose lyrics don’t understand, but with the great line, “Was I not your sort of human being? Was I not your kind of creature?” A little bit of youthful angst makes for a good, dramatic pop number, and this one is decidedly hummable too (and what a fun video when Emm was a baby rocking her bass guitar!)
#29 – Purge (Torrential)
Funny, sassy, and irreverent, Purge is a fun, jaunty rocker off the slick Torrential album that has a hint of 70’s pop. It’s got great lyrics (that I can’t quite figure out) my favorite being, “You write about murder like you’re shopping at Club Monaco; I said, ‘Why don’t you help me and stop being a bitch?’” There’s a strange dichotomy in Torrential… some great break-up songs, but it feels like Emm is having a blast recording this album. Maybe it’s a Purge and she’s loving it!
#28 – Stereochrome (Science Fair)
Emm does wonders with a cello. Stereochrome brings together an acoustic guitar, a harpsichord and a cello, backs it with some percussion, and the result is a mid-temp pop number dripping with longing. It’s the opening track from her DIY album, Science Fair, and the second from that album to make the list. And here’s a fun video of Emm performing the song live. Hint: this album has the most tracks of all on my Emm Top 40, with seven total!
#27 – Black-eyed Blue Sky (The Summer of High Hopes)
Love the guitar licks on this one, reminds me a little of And Your Bird Can Sing by the Beatles. It’s a short pop ditty And the chorus slays.
#26 – Jesus on the Scene (21st Century Ballads)
Before I made this list, I would have said that Emm’s piano ballads were my favorites. That didn’t turn out to be true, but Jesus on the Scene from 21st Century Ballads, a gorgeous collection of piano ballads is one of several that I really, really love. An angelic chorus backs up the proceedings, fitting for Jesus on the Scene, but the song looks at her relationship with the songs “you” from different points in her life, but it’s her maturity and wisdom that make it all work. It’s gorgeous.