The Scottish artist Emma Miller chats to us about her latest single ‘Sick & Tired’, NFT’s, and more
Hailing from what feels like the other side of the world to us humble Cornishmen is Emma Miller, the Scottish folk artist. An artist that boasts incredible vocal range and heartfelt songwriting that will bring even the strongest of wills to their knees. Her latest single ‘Sick & Tired’ is no exception and upon hearing the brutally honest track we had to know more about Emma.
We recently caught up with her to chat about her new music, NFT’s, and much more!
Kieran: Hey Emma, thank you so much for chatting with us! How have you been?
Emma: Hey, I’m doing well although in some mild pain thanks to attempting a pilates workout yesterday…
Kieran: It looks like you’ve had a pretty hectic 2024! How has it been? Any highlights?
Emma: A highlight so far would be performing in New York at a sold out private show with my mate Violetta. We hosted a showcase together for collectors of our Music NFTs in the East Village, it was a special one.
Kieran: Speaking of busy and highlights, you recently shared your latest single ‘Sick & Tired’, can you talk us through this release and what it means to you?
Emma: Sick & Tired was a truly cathartic song for me to put out. I wrote it nearly 5 years ago during a bit of an existential crisis whilst living in London. It represents letting go of certain expectations I thought I had to meet and it feels empowering to take ownership of that message today and be more open about what I was going through at the time. The song has already been on a bit of a journey with me as it began life as part of my music collection on the blockchain last year. That digital collection is the thing that saved me and allowed me to go full time with my music, so there are many layers of why releasing the song publicly means a lot to me.
Listen to ‘Sick & Tired’ here:
Kieran: Can you walk us through your writing and recording process?
Emma: I had the best time bringing a team of friends on board to produce this song. After creating the demo of keys and vocals, my friend Billy Ottewill got me to scream like a banshee at his home studio and created lush layers of instrumentation that instantly brought the song to life. We brought my pal Ruby Finch in on drums with Billy overseeing the arrangement again. Finally the viola and mandolin were recorded by another member of the gang, Aidan Hargreaves. Those parts added by Aidan really helped to give an earthiness to the track and anchored us in more of a folk-rock genre which felt new for me.
Kieran: Did you do anything new with this one or different in comparison to previous releases?
Emma: Yes, almost all of this was recorded after I’d moved back to Scotland and then multiple lock downs hit so it was largely made remotely. I’ve never not been in the room when making a track so it was strange not being able to give instant feedback or guide the sessions. On this occasion, I think working with friends actually enhanced how we communicated as they had such a good understanding of me as an artist and it was easy to jump on a call or quickly listen back to something when they hit the studio. It was a great experience.
Kieran: Were there any particular artists or people that influenced this release?
Emma: Upon reading this question I have just rummaged in my playlists and found one labelled ‘S&T inpo’. Let me share a few of the songs that were there: Feist: The Bad in Each Other; Noah Gundersen: Heavy Metals; Jens Kuross: No Lights On; Bryde: Wouldn’t That Make You Feel Good? I’m going to go and re-listen to those tracks and see if I can hear a relation!
One of the things I did want to experiment with on this song was pushing my vocal range into more challenging territory and away from the ‘pretty’ comfort zone I can happily bask in. I still need to give it some welly when performing Sick & Tired live, it’s still out of my comfort zone in a great way.
Kieran: If you could collab with any producer, artist or person, who would it be and why?
Emma: I think it would be incredible to be in the room with the likes of Rae Morris and Fryars. The range of music and styles she’s covered in the last decade is inspiring and a reminder to me that as long as there is a strong identity at the centre (with someone like Morris) you have way more room to play with little things like genre than we realise as artists. Love everything about her music really.
Kieran: Lastly, what else have you got going on for 2024?
Emma: I’m organising the biggest show of my career on August 10th up in the north east of Scotland. It’s going to be a whole evening of gorgeous songs and beautiful musicians set in the Walled Garden at Gordon Castle. Tickets are on sale now for any curious cats. That same weekend I’m also hosting my first ever community experience where 25 of my top Music NFT collectors are flying in from around the world to hang out and listen to me perform for a few days in Morayshire. That is guaranteed to be the highlight of my year, I can’t wait.