DIARY: SEPTEMBER 29: Highs and lows

This week has been a whirlwind. I wonder how any people of significant celebrity have the time to stop and be grateful for everything that swirls around them. Monday, I was so happy to release “Drove Home”…I love how it turned out, and to have real strings on something again is such a treat. Then - book release day and ALL THE LOVE I received about the book was just lovely. I spoke on Afternoon Drive on CBC about it, and there was also a great interview with Jeff Sammut on Sirius XM. Between parenting a few sick kids (12 yr old molars!! Ugh!) and runny noses (non-Covid), it was a perfect micro example of what life has been like for me. Parent, make sure they’re ok, do a little something for yourself, take a minute to dream. Repeat. I also had some really amazing coaching sessions with clients, where they are bringing their raw honesty to the table and I hold space for it and honour it deeply. Then, I found out today that the first single from David’s lost album “Toy” is out. I started to wonder if I should be looking into a little UK press before the book comes out at the end of October, what with all the buzz around this new (old) Bowie album. I love the rhymes on this “Toy” album, they are so innocent and child-like, kind of like DB when we recorded it. But there I go, talking about David again. I wish I could break protocol and play you the whole album before it’s out. I know there’s a leaked version from a while back, but what Mark Plati has done with the tracks is stellar. I love mixes where you can hear every instrument. I love the bass sounding big and the drums sounding kind of thick.

I’m also applying for a Canada Council grant for the next album which I have tentatively titled “Valencia”. One of the new songs I’ve written uses the story of a ship called Valencia which eventually went down on the west coast of Canada. I never knew this till I started to write, but they call the Pacific Coast in this particular area The Graveyard Coast because of all the ships that have died there. And of course, because songwriters make everything about themselves, this is a song loosely based around the summer before my marriage ended. My husband left to hike the West Coast Trail. I think I knew something was wrong even then, and while he was away, strange things happened at home. Doors fell off of hinges, bats came in, the roof leaked. It felt like a strange precursor to more disastrous things. So the song Valencia is, of course in true Emm style, an upbeat, feel good song about a marriage implosion using the story of a shipwreck. The Graveyard Coast - where more than ships go to die.

Maybe next diary I’ll loop you in on how the writing and demoing of it is coming along.

Here’s my CBC segment in case you hadn't heard it.

Stay safe everyone and PLEASE tune in for the livestream from Boston. I’m having some serious travel anxiety which is funny for someone who got really dang used to grabbing a cheese croissant at the Iceland airport on the bazillionth stopover between Toronto and Copenhagen back in ‘08/’09. Can you say - out of practice?

Love…Emm

photos: Kim Atkinson

Me and the band at the Forest Fall fair.