‘Jungle Tapes Volume #5' by Emma McGann

Out right now from Emma McGann (exclusively on Bandcamp) is her latest album ‘Jungle Tapes Volume #5' which contains the ten tracks "Zoetrope", "Stars Rewind", "Embers Only Glow", "Small Talk", "Mixtape", "Howl", "Green Light", "Scream Bloody Murder", "Temptation" and "Red Flags".

If you read my story about Emma's studio you'll know why this series has that name and again these songs were recorded solo by her in that space: each was a live (usually acoustic) first take.

Even more impressive is that none was plucked from her store of previously written & honed material: Emma was responding to the challenge of writing ten tracks in as many days (only last month too) so each was barely better known to her when the record button was pressed than it is to you now. The recordings were all on the same day as composition.

As ever, this potentially nerve wracking challenge not only fails to faze her, she seems to respond incredibly positively to it. I'm going to stick my neck out here & also suggest that it brings out the best in her. There are songs here which may contend for places on the eventual ‘Best of Emma McGann'.

As regular readers will be tired of hearing me say, I prefer the simply arranged & produced to the opposite: I am increasingly wary that over-production too often conceals deficiencies not just in performances but also composition.

Quoting the artist herself: "I love sharing my music in this way because it's as raw as it gets - no overthinking, no overproducing - just songs in their purest form, captured in the moment. Vulnerable? Yes. But also kind of magical". I cannot improve on that (which is why she's an artist & I'm not).

Now suggesting that all artists work on instinct alone is dangerous advice: the potential for some very mediocre songs is clear. However when coupled with the experience that Emma has of how songs work, what to avoid in terms of cliché and what brings originality to the piece, I think it can be liberating. It's not unusual for artists of a perfectionist tendency to go too far & become agonised over the tiny details of writing & production which not only delays sharing but can stifle the original ideas.

Emma definitely gives the impression of being liberated by this challenge: how it informs her work going forwards outside the parameters of this challenge remains to be seen, but I think it has longer term potential. That she has elected to release the fruits of a discrete project within the context of her ongoing series suggests a lot of interest in incorporating the methodology longer term.

The songs' themes were driven by the daily prompts of the challenge and encompass "…songs of big cities, forbidden fruit and even murder mysteries.." which not only ensures a great deal if internal variety  but takes her writing into areas where it has never previously ventured.

The songs all favour Emma's voice over the instrumentation & this not only enhances the lyrical content & does the melodic heavy lifting but ratchets up the emotions on display.

There is a bit of a dilemma, possibly for me as a reviewer, possibly for Emma but hopefully for neither. A song such as "Green Light" sits with the strongest of her work. "Normally" one might expect her to work up a fuller version & release it as a strong pop single with every hope of commercial success: this is not the sort of arrangement one associates with charting songs. However I'd actually feel a bit disappointed if she adorned it with (to me) unnecessary additions: having heard it this way, to augment it would in some ways seem to place a filter of pointless extra sound, blocking out some of the honesty & attraction.

Even more dance friendly tracks like "Embers Only Glow" (which I'm sure would have had other elements under other circumstances) works well: Emma proves that you can get funky by playing your acoustic guitar with sufficient verve & sass.

Curiously enough, Emma does switch to a more electric (though still solo) sound on the song least like her previous canon: "Scream Bloody Murder". This is another contender for my favourite on the album & shows this artist can surely play the blues.

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There certainly is no weak track on ‘Jungle Tapes Volume #5' and as I say, the songs are varied in style but united in quality. Long term Emma McGann fans may be a bit taken aback by them, but to be fair, her previous releases in the ‘Jungle Tapes' series ought to have prepared people.

I frequently fall foul of the trap of dubbing an artist's most recent album as my favourite of their work: is it because I'm a sucker for the new or because they progress? However you might feel about that question, I'm quite happy to say that in this case....