With Love from Her L.A. Family, Nothing’s Gonna Stop Emily Wells Now

June 19, 2009, at the Hotel Café

By Erica Phillips
Published: June 21st, 2009 | 11:50pm

“Ah, Los Angeles,” Emily Wells cooed into the mic as she stepped to the front of the crimson velvet–framed stage at the Hotel Café, “I’ve missed you.” Her downward gaze, clean brown bob, plain T-shirt and jeans, and red hot lipstick were not what I was expecting, to say the least. Tutus and dreadlocks and studded belts — now that was the Pixie Punk I thought I knew.

But here, in what can truly be called Wells’ home territory, the city and the venue where she established her indie brand of orchestral folk-tronica, she was all ease and comfort, and the vibe came through in her set. Just back from a West Coast tour promoting her recent EP release Dirty (Creative Control), Wells and her perennial band — consisting of bassist Joey Reina and drummer Sam Halterman — played to a crowd of friends and long-time supporters like they were performing in their living room.

This record sounds like Wells is tying up loose ends after last year’s full-length, The Symphonies: Dreams, Memories & Parties (Creative Control). On the tour that followed, Wells drew lots of attention with her cover of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy,” and also regularly played another original, “Take It Easy San Francisco,” both of which are included on this year’s EP (along with re-recordings of three of the “Symphonies”).

“Whatever it takes to get Emily Wells back on tour” could have been an alternate title for the EP, as Wells’ live show thrills and surprises new and old fans alike. What she lacked in entertaining banter (barely speaking during her set), she made up for in creative live looping — as she layered vocal harmonies, varied violin parts, xylophones, toy piano, and spooky reverb effects. For each piece, Wells constructed the accompaniment carefully and created orchestral beats upon which Reina and Halterman elaborated. Once everything was set, Wells approached the mic with her pitch-perfect wails and distorted pronunciations and preached folk philosophies that recalled the best moments of her angsty Midwestern youth.

I overheard the guy in front of me say to his friend after “Symphony 1 In the Barrel of a Gun” (Wells’ opening number), “Woah dude, I wanna marry her,” and I smirked. Soft though she may have seemed with her violin tucked gently under her chin, this chick’s true colors busted out later during “Juicy,” as she waved her hands like M.I.A. and made the candle-lit café bump. If her early-career rejection of a deal with Epic Records, and the name of her self-made label (Creative Control) is any indication, Wells isn’t about to settle down. After this year’s breather, I expect her to continue to shock audiences with her on-stage production and rock them from down deep with those soulful layers of vocals.

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page

Emily Wells MySpace page

Creative Control Records