Emily Alice Releases New Single ‘It’ll Come Around Again’
Recovering from a magnanimous year for Pōneke’s purveyors of neo-jazz, Emily Alice are releasing their favourite song yet in a new release of energy to match the Spring blossoms. It’ll Come Around Again leans into new (and not unwelcome) territory for the band, with a more defined identity and tone for Emily Alice. The track also marks the end of a chapter for the band, as it is the last song recorded in Dunedin, and before the band graduated from the University of Otago.
Upon first listen you’ll notice It’ll Come Around Again is a level-up for composition for Emily Alice, and illustrates the band’s rewarding new approach to songwriting. Orbiting around a cyclical melody of the keys, the arrangement of the track ties clearly into the ethos of the song. The track features a violin arrangement by Louis Stevenson (Ivy) which launches the track to another level – Emily Alice have developed themselves into a new auditory ecosystem. Surf-rock influences from drummer Angus Cleland add a refreshing element to the track which lead to a bold climax that serves as a cathartic end to the track. It’s almost as if Emily Alice are ending the track with a statement: “We’re hitting the next level, are you coming?”. Emily Alice have always been brilliant songwriters, but their work with It’ll Come Around Again has elevated them to another level.
Written in 2023 at a time when vocalist Emily Kerr-Bell was living in the North East Valley in Dunedin, an area notorious for short winter days, and days spent avoiding tenacious frost patches on the roads. This all-consuming winter-dread is only alleviated by brief moments of respite from the elusive southern sun. Vocalist Emily Kerr-Bell says “That winter had been particularly hard, I felt stuck in my rhythms with life. The track came about as I was walking to meet Josh (keys) in the Botanical Gardens during the morning after a hoar frost. Despite the hard ground and the white frost, it was really sunny – almost like the first taste of the upcoming spring. I could see new blossoms peeking out and it was the perfect (and timely) reminder that everything is cyclical and will come around again. No matter how hard the winter, spring will come around soon.”
The cyclical nature of the song is mirrored in Joshua Bottz’s keys melody, which is cyclical itself and falls back onto its starting note. “I really wanted to mirror the symbolism in the song with the music, and I’m really happy with the part I wrote – it’s not an obvious thing but for me, it really ties the meaning of the song in with the music” says Josh Botting on the arrangement of the song.
This release comes with a cathartic tone – it is the last track recorded by Emily Alice before the band moved to Wellington, which marked a new era for the band. Up to this point, Emily Alice was fun, and the song-writing process was more of an ad-hoc approach. The release of It’ll Come Around Again marks the beginning of a more surgical approach to Emily Alice’s writing, performances, and method to releasing music.
“We are entering a new phase as a band, which is poignant for this particular song which focuses on cycles” – Jakira Brophy.
Emily Alice are Emily Kerr-Bell (vocals), Joshua Botting (keys), Toby Roseman (guitar), Jakira Brophy (bass), and Angus Cleland (drums). It’ll Come Around Again was produced and engineered by Sam Healey at Turbine Sound and mastered by Ben Horton at Organik Muzik Workz. It’ll Come Around Again features Louis Stevenson (Ivy) on violin. Images provided by Max Balloch, and artwork by Jakira Brophy.
Emily Alice have received significant airplay across The Hits, OAR, Most.FM, Radio One 91FM, Radio Active, and RDU, and have charted on Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles, and the SRN Top 10 Countdown. They have played alongside Six60, Ladi6, Bootleg Rascal (Aus), Broods, and Muroki.
Jazz, soul, RnB, and pop fusion are but a few of the many components that bring together the auditory charcuterie board that is Emily Alice. Born out of Ōtepoti/ Dunedin, and now based in Pōneke/ Wellington, they are creating a captive audience and taking over two ear drums at a time. Legend has it the band never book themselves for a gig – they just turn up and start playing. When you sound as good as they do, who’s to blame them.
