Emily Jane White
Birth nameEmily Jane White
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active2006–present
Labels
Website

Emily Jane White is an American singer and songwriter from Oakland, California[1] who has released seven solo albums and toured internationally.[2]

Early life

White was raised in Fort Bragg, California.[3] White's father worked as a Merchant Marine out of the Port of Oakland, and her mother was a special education teacher for the Mendocino Unified School District.[1]

White began to play music at age 5, but didn't enjoy the linear approach to piano lessons and preferred improvisation and playing by ear. At the age of 12 her father taught her chords on the guitar.[4] At the age of 16 she wrote her first songs.

Education

In 2003, White graduated with a degree in American Studies from UC–Santa Cruz.[5] White's first musical explorations came as a member of punk and metal bands in college.[6] She later branched off with her own group called Diamond Star Halos.[7]

Career

After college and spending time in Bordeaux, France, White moved to San Francisco to perform.[8]

On November 2, 2007, White released her first album, Dark Undercoat, through Double Negative Records.[9] It was released on Talitres in Europe and as a vinyl LP in 2008 by Saint Rose Records.[10] It included the song "Wild Tigers I Have Known", the title track of the Cam Archer film of the same name.[7] Archer would later direct a number of videos for the album.[11] She later described the album as "really basic, it sounds like demos".[4] For live performances, White was supported by Jen Grady and Carey Lamprecht on strings.[12][13]

White's second album, entitled Victorian America, was released in October 2009 in Europe on Talitres, and on April 27, 2010, in the U.S. by Milan Records.[4][14] It was recorded in San Francisco and Oakland.[15] White had written a number of songs that she worked on with her band for "basically a year and a half before we went and recorded". Compared to her debut, she described it as "more of an ambitious record".[16] The song "Liza" appeared on digital streaming platforms prior to the US release.[17]

White's third album is entitled Ode to Sentience. The first single, "Requiem Waltz", first appeared on American Songwriter.[18]

White appears on the song "Seeds" on Lonely Drifter Karen's 2010 album Fall of Spring.[19]

In December 2013, White released Blood/Lines that included a contribution by Marissa Nadler.[20] It was described as "a new stylistic development in her repertoire" and having a "neo-gothic feel".[21]

In June 2016 the release of the new album was confirmed and preceded by the single "Frozen Garden".[22] In July 2016, White released her fifth album They Moved in Shadow All Together that was described as "bringing her concern for race and gender equality to the fore of her poetic folk-pop".[1] The album was recorded over a two-year period at the Tiny Telephone Studio in San Francisco.[22][23]

Immanent Fire, White's sixth album, was released in November 2019 after being written over a period of two years. Major lyrical themes on the record include environmental collapse, capitalism and patriarchy. White co-produced the album with Anton Patzner, who also engineered and provided arrangements.[24][25]

In 2022, White's 2007 song "Hole in the Middle" was featured in the menu screen for the video game As Dusk Falls.

Style

White explained her interest in "the shadow side of life" by stating that "you can unveil and sort of reveal…subtleties and nuances and undercurrents of things that are existing but no one wants to talk about".[21] The song "The Black Dove" was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. White noted that "As a white person, there are so many misconceptions to what racism is, but the fact that you can turn a blind eye to issues of racial brutality is a symptom of being white".[1] Her literary inspirations are often cited to be Cormac McCarthy, Emily Brontë, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Edgar Allan Poe.[26]

Discography

Albums

Year Album Peak positions Certification
FR
[27]
2007 Dark Undercoat 143
2009 Victorian America 113
2010 Ode to Sentience 112
2013 Blood / Lines
2016 They Moved in Shadow All Together
2019 Immanent Fire
2022 Alluvion

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
FR
[27]
2013 "Keeley" 196

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Elizabeth, Jordannah (July 12, 2016). "Emily Jane White Awakens with Her New Album". East Bay Express. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  2. ↑ "From Cormac McCarthy to Chan Marshall: Emily Jane White's evocative storytelling". SF Weekly. May 16, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  3. ↑ Archived April 12, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 3 Savage, Emily. "Emily Jane White evokes melancholy nostalgia". SF Weekly. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  5. ↑ Rappaport, Scott (August 14, 2012). "UCSC alum's third CD offers haunting 'optimistic melancholy'". UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Fischer, Seth (June 3, 2010). "An Interview with Emily Jane White". www.splintergeneration.com. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Swiatecki, Chad (November 15, 2007). "Emily Jane White". Spin. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  8. ↑ Birchmeier, Jason. "Emily Jane White". AllMusic. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  9. ↑ Emily Jane White at Double Negative Records
  10. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (April 27, 2008). "Emily Jane White Dark Undercoat". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  11. ↑ Bouchard, Sean. "Dark Undercoat". Talitres (in French). Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Emily Jane White Prepares for her Third Album Release This Spring". November 2, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Emily Jane White". La Blogothèque. February 2, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Emily Jane White". Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  15. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (April 25, 2010). "Emily Jane White Victorian America". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  16. ↑ Harper, Beth (August 10, 2010). "Interview: Emily Jane White". Verbicide. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  17. ↑ Bosman, Chris (February 22, 2010). "Liza". pitchfork.com. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  18. ↑ Schlansky, Evan (April 27, 2012). "Song Premiere/Free Download: Emily Jane White, "Requiem Waltz"". American Songwriter. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Home". Strictly Confidential. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Emily Jane White: Blood/Lines Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  21. 1 2 Kramer, Matt (July 1, 2015). "Emily Jane White". City Scout Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  22. 1 2 Simpson, Hailey (June 22, 2016). "Emily Jane White releases lushly dark "Frozen Garden" ahead of record release show". The Bay Bridged – San Francisco Bay Area Indie Music. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Emily Jane White : Le retour de la dame en noir – MusiK Please". musikplease.com. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Emily Jane White releasing 'Immanent Fire' (stream "Light")". BrooklynVegan. September 3, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  25. ↑ Bouchard, Sean. "Talitres". www.talitres.com. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  26. ↑ Eanet, Lindsay (June 16, 2010). "Best of What's Next: Emily Jane White". Paste Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  27. 1 2 "Ola discography". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
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