EMA just released the video for "California," the first from her debut album Past Life Martyred Saints. Directed by Leif Shackleford, the clip is a one-take performance with no cuts, set against a backdrop of footage of her native South Dakota and her adopted hometown of West Oakland, CA. EMA, the new project from ex-Gowns singer/guitarist Erika M. Anderson, will release Past Life Martyred Saints in the US on May 10th, 2011 via Souterrain Transmissions.

The first single, "The Grey Ship", was released March 8th and features a 16-minute cover of Robert Johnson's "Kind-Hearted Woman" as the B-side. A free MP3 of "The Grey Ship" is available here.



Past Life Martyred Saints is filled with crashing and rhythmic, eerie and elegant, booming and building melodies. Throughout the album, self-taught home-recording engineer and searing guitarist EMA treats fidelity and distortion like another instrument, as on the gauzy, fidelity-mixing "The Grey Ship" and the fuzzed-out piano and pealing guitar ode "California." "Marked," a dark, breathy reverie of raw vulnerability, transmutes into a gorgeous, melancholic organ-fueled melody, illustrating EMA's preternatural knack for finding the shocking beauty hidden within the most discordant moments. While the majority of tracks see EMA manning all duties herself, the hypnotic lullaby-esque build of "Breakfast" and the defiant album closer "Red Star" were recorded with a full band, featuring her sister Nikki on drums and Aaron Davis (who also records solo as ACRE) on bass. With a voice that's at once breathless and gutsy and can rise to the brightest yell, EMA establishes herself here as a singular creative force with which to be reckoned.

Gowns was known for its volatile live shows - which were heralded by LA Weekly and Village Voice, among others - and EMA's recent performances at SXSW are already earning high praise again. Of her first showcase, The Los Angeles Times wrote, "...there's a little bit of punk rock at the heart of Anderson's songs, which give what could have been folksy confessionals a more aggressive framework", while Pitchfork declared "She's a wonder to behold" and Bitch magazine's blog remarked "this is the music you hear when you're entering into the eye of the storm." EMA will head overseas to play a short run of shows in the UK in May; a current itinerary is below. US tour dates will be announced soon.

EMA UK tour dates:
MAY 11 -- LONDON, UK-- THE MACBETH
MAY 12 -- LONDON, UK -- CARGO*
MAY 13 -- MANCHESTER, UK -- FUTUREEVERYTHING
MAY 14 -- BRIGHTON, UK -- THE GREAT ESCAPE NME RADAR STAGE
* supporting Scout Niblett

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