EMMA RUSSACK – PEASANTS

You may recognize Emma Russack under her former moniker, Lola Flash. In breaking away from this glittery namesake, it seems She wants to make a clean break, start again, from a very calm place. This EP/mini-album serves that purpose to seductive effect – Russack’s billowy, naked songs are given just the right treatment by her minimalist band, and from the stoned-out, haunting From Where You Are Sleeping, we’re instantly under the spell. Some curiously lounge-y elements pepper By The Shore and Autumn, and the ghostly croon of I’ll Never Hurt You. The spell is broken somewhat by the quaintly conceived but ever-so-slightly annoying Sex On The Beach, but it’s no matter; aside from the gloriously simple, ambient production throughout, Russack saves her biggest punch for last – the meandering, magnificent Peasant Like Me, in which she recounts the tale of a musical crush that leads to creative frustration and a sort of underlying sexual renting of the soul. It is really captivating stuff – one is left reeling in its chasms of guitar reverb and four-stroke drumming. There is no question that Russack is good.

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