SINGLE REVIEW: EMILIA QUINN - DOES SHE KNOW

It is rare if ever that Emilia Quinn disappoints us but no new cover picture for the latest single "Does She Know?". One of lifes little pleasures is seeing what inventive image has been created to accompany what will undoubtedly be a noteworthy single, yet this time round we are recycling the one used previously for "High On Life"? We''ll put it down to establishing that "Dented Halo"image in our minds for later.

This is a slightly different side to Emilia's songwriting as she takes on the role of the "concerned" other woman. It is a trope especially beloved by songwriters but in the cold light of day it always feels a little forced as if the person was truly that concerned then don't have the assignation in the first place! The song sees Emilia posing a couple of questions to which the answers are surely known before they are even asked

"Does she know

That you show up most nights

When you’re done with the neon lights

And you don’t wanna go home?

Does she know

You’ve been passing through my bed

With whiskey on your breath

And a dent in your halo?

If the person is turning up "most nights" then there is a fair chance that their significant other is aware that something is going on. Emilia does seek to add in some intrigue with talk of "Neon lights" and that persons "halo" having been dented suggesting someone otherwise considered to be good and upstanding.

A further question comes at the end of this next verse where Emila revels in the good time she is having but goes on to reveal that she knows the other half involved.

"Been a long time since I felt like I could let somebody see me this way

And I know I gotta look her in the face pretend I don’t know the way

Your hands feel on my body

She doesn’t know I’m the one with a knife in my hand

Would she ever understand?" - Er no!

Perhaps it is unfair separating out the lyrics from the music as maybe combined together they can create a sense of illusion that can suspend disbelief.

The opening verse has Emilia, singing in a sultry manner over a few strums of an acoustic guitar, the word "halo" is soulfully extended out. It is fully 30 seconds before the band truly make their presence felt, with a storming heavy back beat. blending with a guitar sound that is more forceful, until suddenly we are enveloped in electric and pedal steel guitars. Emilia is able to imbue the lyrics with more realiity than they seemed to possess written on the page - The line

"Your hands on my body" is delivered with a definite hint of steaminess!

The final run at the chorus is vocalised as itfwe are eavesdropping on a blazing row - the delivery is fierce and the accusatory nature of the repeated final line is palpable - it is demanding of an answer that we are never going to get to hear, as well realistically asking for a choice to be made.

"Do you look at her the same way

You’re looking at me tonight"

Somehow by sheer force alone Emilia has been able to breathe life into a situation and suspend our disbelief long enough to get through the song. If she can do it for one song just what else could album number two contain?