asianblue - Emm Gryner
by Wayne Wong

There are several reasons why I find Emm Gryner and her new album asianblue noteworthy:

• Besides being the singer & songwriter, Emm Gryner plays several instruments, and she also did much of the producing on this album. She is also the president of Dead Daisy Records, the small Toronto-based independent record label that released this album. Talk about wearing many hats!
• As noted in the liner notes, "This album was entirely funded by the artist + fans, and was in no way financially supported by a corporation, major record label or government agency."
• Emm Gryner is a Canadian who is half-Asian - her mother is Filipino, while her father is German/Irish.
• Emm Gryner was a backup singer for David Bowie for quite a while.
• asianblue is simply full of great music and great lyrics. As interesting as the above points are to me, the reason I bought this album is simply that when I listened to it at a Future Shop, the "Wow, great music," and "Wow, great lyric" moments piled up clearly past the "Worth Buying" point. It was only afterwards that I found out the preceding points.

Expanding...

Emm Gryner is the...

...well, it seems like she can do it all when it comes to creating a music album and getting it out there, from the writing, singing, and playing to the recording and producing to the business side of things. Not that she really does everything - she has several people assisting her on this album - but still, the breadth of her abilities is amazing. There are not many who are so involved in so many of the major aspects of creating their music and getting it heard - Prince comes to mind, and perhaps Shakira, but not many more.

"This album was entirely funded by the artist + fans..."

Actually, Emm Gryner used to be on a major record label, but even though she had a hit song, etc., she fell victim to corporate restructuring and was dropped. She seems to have done alright taking the independent route and doing a lot of things herself though, since in a recent interview she said that she has her fans and she is able to make a living doing this.

Half-Asian

We so rarely hear about Asian or part-Asian performers/artists in Western entertainment that it's refreshing and interesting to find out about one, especially one as good at her craft as Emm Gryner is. And listening to her music, I think that her Filipino side did indeed have an effect on it - it's not really obvious, but it's there.

Backup singer for David Bowie... (check this out)

What a great experience that must have been! She apparently was not just another crew member either, as she says she and Mr. Bowie e-mail each other once in a while, and he thinks asianblue is quite good. How's that for a recommendation!

Great music and great lyrics

This is what it's all about, in the end, and this album certainly delivers. Melodic, lively, punchy, poignant, smart, perceptive - these are all words that come to mind to describe her music. As for her lyrics, I think she writes some of the best lyrics of any Canadian musician currently working. I'll let some of my favourite lines from this album speak for themselves:

"Some beautiful things remain
Like tripping over love in June
Singing just to make it through"
- Beautiful Things

"Piecing up these broken scenes
Burning down my teenage dream
One day you will wonder why
You left me like a lonestar
Running after you
Asking everyone what is true
I've had all of this bad news but I believed
That I was done being a lonestar"
- Lonestar

"We drag-race our devils to fill empty hearts
...
And Christopher floats to the stars
Christopher walks on the dark
...
We are just driving in cars
But Christopher floats to the stars"
- Christopher, written for Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield

In spite of all the above, Emm Gryner is still not that well known, at least not yet - the world is just not fair sometimes. Beautiful Things has gotten some airplay (Vancouver's Z95.3 was one of the first stations to add it), so maybe she'll be getting more of her fair share of recognition soon. Meanwhile, I'm glad I got my copy of asianblue.


Wayne Wong
2002-12-17


Rating:

 

Links

http://emmgryner.com/emmmus-asianblue.htm  - asianblue cover art, song list, etc.
http://emmgryner.com/  - Emm Gryner's official web site
http://deaddaisy.com/  - The official Dead Daisy Records website

2003-09-15

Tonight, Canadian David Bowie fans were able to attend the worldwide David Bowie Large 'N' Live event at select Famous Players theatres, where they were able to view a special live performance by Mr. Bowie and his band to promote his new album 'Reality' - a "typical" cutting-edge David Bowie thing. Part of the show was a real time, interactive Q&A between Bowie and cinema audiences, during which someone asked him what Canadian musicians he liked. Among those he named was Emm Gryner. He said even though he wasn't sure how many have heard of her, she is quite a good singer & writer. He also pointed out that she used to sing for him.