Emm Gryner: Indie Soldier

Piano pixie was a part of three unique albums in the last year

Emm Gryner, the dedicated indie singer-songwriter, chairwoman of Dead Daisy Records and erstwhile back-up singer to David Bowie, has been highly productive over the past few months. She contributed bass and back-up vocals to the debut album of Hot One, a melodious rock combo headed by ex-Shudder To Think-er Nathan Larson. She then simultaneously released not one, but two solo albums.

One of these is The Summer Of High Hopes, her latest collection of original songs. Full of winning melodies and bittersweet lyrics, it moves away from the more programmed and processed sound of Asianblue, her last proper album of originals. Piano, guitars, acoustic drums and string arrangements are featured prominently.

"That was super-deliberate," acknowledges Gryner. "I missed live drums and hearing the layers in a song. This is the closest I've come to doing things live with other people. I'm so used to doing multi-tracking because it's a symptom of my lonely life [laughs], just to do things one thing at a time and have it in a controlled atmosphere. I would like to get into recording everything live all at once."

Although the songs touch on familiar themes from previous albums (primarily interpersonal trials and tribulations), Gryner identifies a shift in perspective in her newer work. She says her latest songs are more personal.

"The earlier songs were very outward looking, about situations and how they affected me. And now that I'm aging [laughs], entering my geriatric years, you tend to be more cynical about yourself and probably a little more judgmental. In my case, you stop blaming the outside world for your problems and you start looking at yourself."

At least one of Gryner's new songs has received praise from a somewhat surprising source. In a recent Q magazine article, Bono named Gryner's "Almighty Love" as one of the songs from the past two decades that he wished he had written.

"That was such a surprise to hear," she acknowledges. "That's quite a task to pick five or six songs from the last 20 years that you really love. I'm super honoured and it's great to think that being independent, you can reach these people. I think that independent music has come a long way. I remember 10 years ago people telling me that there's no way that a big producer would work with you unless you're on a label. And I think that's changing and a lot of other things are changing, so it's a good sign."

Gryner's other new solo album is PVT (pronounced "private"). It features radical reinterpretations of her songs from her only major label album Public. With melodies altered almost beyond recognition, the recordings offer an intimate and sombre contrast to the brash pop-rock of the earlier versions.

"I thought I'd rerecord these songs to claim them back," Gryner explains. "I almost treated it like covering myself, covering myself as someone who is older. It was really fun to work on some of it. I worked really hard to work out arrangements that would be interesting. Some of the arrangements aren't very simple, so I actually learned a lot from doing it.

"I thought it was a great idea until I was faced with the task of doing it," she admits. "I think when I started in on it, I thought I could do it very quickly. But then I realized that I couldn't rush it, so I really picked everything apart. It was great but it was also a living hell [laughs]."

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Pour Some Sugar On Me

Emm Gryner and Def Leppard may not be a pairing that easily springs to mind. But these two artists regularly cross paths.

Gryner struck up a friendship with Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott, inspiring her piano-ballad version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me." Elliott raved about this cover and appeared onstage at several of her shows in Ireland.

More recently, Gryner was invited to play and sing on Leppard's album of cover versions, Yeah!.

"I played piano on ‘Golden Age Of Rock ‘N' Roll' and I sang on a few songs. They're still a really good live band and they're really, really nice people."

This feature is from the February 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, go to the Chart Shop.