Emily Breeze ‘Rapture’

Bristol based pop noir artist Emily Breeze returns with new album ‘Rapture’. Written and recorded in her 40th year on planet earth, the songs are a poignant and humorous take on how it feels to grow old disgracefully in an increasingly weird world. She describes the album as “a collection of coming-of (middle) age stories which celebrate flamboyant failure, excess and acceptance. “I was receiving advice from music industry types to try and hide my age as if it was a dirty secret like an S.T.D or a disgraced royal, so I decided to do the exact opposite”. This may have been a wise decision as single “Confessions of An Ageing Party Girl” received airplay from Lauren Laverne, Don Letts and Tom Robinson (BBC Radio 6) who commented “The UK’s 21st century answer to Patti Smith”. Second single “Ordinary Life” spent four weeks on the BBC Radio 6 Playlist seeing multiple plays from Amy Lame, Chris Hawkins, Steve Lamaq and Craig Charles who described the song as “an anthem” and invited Emily to do an interview as a special guest on the show. Emily has also found a fan in the A list actor Robert Carlyle who has shared both singles and commented “Emily Breeze IS talent…Love her”.

Cosmology is also a consistent theme which forms a backdrop to the everyday experiences (a day at work, a night in the pub) which take place as the universe unfurls into the great enveloping infinite dark. Many of the songs use cut up excerpts from Science articles and quotes from cosmologists such as Carl Sagan which are spliced with Emily’s absurdist imagery “we will high five the aliens, we will receive a standing ovation from the angels.” The album’s centrepiece “Part of Me” is a five-minute sprawling epic which takes on the alternative fates of the towering figures of the 21st century “Elvis moved to the suburbs for a witness protection scheme” and “Princess Diana went undercover; she works at Anne Summers she wears a disguise”.

These themes, images and ideas are beautifully illustrated through the talents of producer Stew Jackson (Massive Attack) and all-star band Rob Norbury (lead guitar), Andy Sutor (drums), Helen Stanley (keys/synth) and George Caveney (bass) who have collaborated with Emily to craft a cinematic pop noir fantasy which draws influence from Vintage Exotica, Patti Smith, Pulp and Leonard Cohen.

Emily released her first solo album “The Penny Arcade” in 2010 garnering critical acclaim including album of the year in Americana U.K and support from BBC Radio 6 which resulted in Emily being described as “The love child of P.J Harvey and Johnny Cash” in The Sunday Times followed by performances at Glastonbury Festival, a headline slot at Bristol Festival and U.K and European tour dates. Emily and long-term collaborator Rob Norbury then went on to form psychedelic post-punk band Candy Darling and released two double A-side seven-inch singles “Money” and “Going Straight” which were supported by BBC Intro, The NME and Louder Than War. 2019 saw the release of Emily’s second solo album “Rituals” produced by Stew Jackson (Massive Attack) which also received positive reviews in national press (Mojo, Irish Times) and airplay from BBC Intro, XFM and BBC Radio 6.

‘Rapture’ is released on the 10th of February 2023 on Limited Edition Black Vinyl (500 copies), CD and Digital Download and available in all good record stores worldwide distributed by Shellshock / Proper.

ARTIST: Emily Breeze
TITLE: “Rapture”
RELEASE DATE: 10th February 2023
LABEL: Sugar Shack Records
GENRE: Indie Rock
DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock / Proper
CAT NO: FOD145V / FOD145CD
BARCODE: 5052571100219 / 5052571200421
WEBSITE: www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk