Emily and the Woods

Emily and the Woods - It Was Right There

I love YouTube. Yes, it allows us to keep up to date with the latest internet sensation but what I love most is the sessions of aspiring, unsigned artists spilling out their musical desires to share their material with the world in the comfort of their own living room, a street, a park or woodland area. It’s sessions like these which have enabled me to discover a handful of my favourite singers/bands to date; The Villagers, Lucy Rose and Emily and the Woods, to name but a few.

I discovered ‘More Like Me’ last summer and it took me aback. It was the early hours and I was having one of my mad hunts for a track which gives you the same sensation of what I can only compare to a sugar rush; a dreamy haze of musical brilliance. Emily Wood may sing about heart break but she’ll be mending some with her candid chorus:

I wish I felt more, I wish I felt more like me.

Beautiful.

I stumbled across many of Emily Wood’s sessions, one in particular was ‘It Was Right There,’ where she sang by the River Thames, in her hometown for thewatchlistentell channel and the performance was almost angelic. (The video can be viewed above so you can see for yourself)

I can’t believe Emily and the Woods are still unsigned!   It astounds me; But with a few more tour dates to get excited about and the increase in ‘likes’ on their Facebook page, I can’t imagine it staying that way for too much longer. Supporting Ben Howard, Ed Sheeran and Lucy Rose in the past can only work in their favour too. If we look at the recent success of Lucy Rose with her debut album, I can only expect the same for Emily.

If only my current funds would allow for two gigs in one week… I’m already seeing Wolf Alice on the 22^nd of this month and just wish I could afford a trip to Brighton to see Emily and the Woods two days before in The Blind Tiger Club. I can’t stress enough how silly you would be to miss it! Yes, I know that makes me silly too (trust me; I’m beating myself up about it, not to mention my sorry state of a bank account) but if you can afford it, spend your pennies on something worthwhile.

My fingers are crossed for more tour dates this year and after their recent YouTube uploads of more mesmeric melodies such as ‘Lonely Handed’ and ‘Arrows’, I’m also hoping for another EP release…

Sometimes I struggle to understand with what reins the charts these days but artists like Emily and the Woods remind me originality does remain.

Watch. Listen And Tell everyone.