This morning, Portland based musician EMA released a music video for the third single off her upcoming album, Exile In The Outer Ring. The song, “Down And Out”, is a slow-building track with minimal instrumentation and haunting vocals. The video juxtaposes images of a calm EMA singing in a recreation of her living room with Portland artist Taj Bourgeois defiling himself with things like duct tape, peanut butter, and whipped cream. As the song builds, the setting of the video becomes increasingly destroyed and vandalized.
The choice of including Taj Bourgeois in the video was a very intentional one. EMA thought his art exhibited a “broke-ness, innovation, desperation and hilarity” which would pair perfectly with the song. Director Alicia Rose added that she thought Taj’s raw performance art could create applicable “vignettes of futility.” The video in its entirety was filmed in under 10 hours, which according to Rose, gave the video a “challenging time-based art element.”
Exile In The Outer Ring will be EMA’s third studio album. It follows the success of 2010’s Past Life Martyred Saints and 2014’s The Future’s Void, both of which garnered acclaim. According to press release, the album will focus on forgotten places in American society. “The Outer Ring is the suburban world of people who’ve been pushed out of city centers by stagnating wages and rising expense, forced up against rural communities swallowed by sprawl.” It fill focus on futility and communities “deeply marked by poverty and tension, and by the anger that comes from having your story and your struggles erased from the narrative.”
The album will be released August 25th, and is currently available for pre-order in multiple bundle packages via Bandcamp and select US/UK indie stores. Shortly after it’s release, EMA will embark on an ambitious tour, with 24 European dates and 20 American ones. She will be supported by artist Dubais on her European leg, and The Blow on the American side.
EMA Tour Dates:
09/17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar @ Vega*
09/19 – Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall*
09/20 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival
0921 – Munster, DE @ Sputnikhalle
09/22 – Amsterdam, NL @ Muzieklokaal*
09/23 – Cologne, DE @ King Georg
09/24 – Brussels, BE @ Autumn Falls / Botanique*
09/26 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain // Certain People Festival (w/ Blank Mass & Forest Swords)
09/27 – Munich, DE @ Kranhalle*
09/28 – St. Gallen, CH @ Palace*
09/29 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik*
09/30 – Paris, FR @ Le Batofar*
10/02 – Brighton, UK @ Sticky Mike’s*
10/03 – London, UK @ Oslo*
10/04 – Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen*
10/05 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Games Room*
10/06 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast*
10/07 – Leicester, UK @ The Cookie*
10/09 – Nuremburg, DE @ Z-bau
10/10 – Ljubljana, SI @ Hrupni Večeri Noisey Nights Series, Gala Hala*
10/11 – Budapest, HU @ Durer Kert*
10/12 – Vienna, AT @ Arena*
10/13 – Prague, CZ @ Meet Factory*
10/14 – Warsaw, PL @ Smolna
10/26 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s**
10/27 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox**
10/28 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios**
10/30 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop**
10/31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo**
11/01 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge**
11/03 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda**
11/04 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada**
11/06 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade – Purgatory**
11/07 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook**
11/08 – Washington, DC @ DC9**
11/10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Night Bazaar**
11/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA**
11/12 – Somerville, MA @ Once Lounge & Ballroom**
11/13 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace**
11/14 – Montreal, QC @ Le Belmont**
11/15 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison**
11/17 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory**
11/18 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle**
11/19 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club**
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