Soul Survivor

Despite her age, Emma Louise Lobb is firmly in control of her destiny. At 21, she knows where she wants to go, but is in no rush to get there. As the accolades continue to steadily grace her, she neglects concern about success, rather choosing to focus on longevity and artistic freedom. She's ignored record label contracts, refuses to write for radio and hasn't even watched the top rating drama series her song was used in. The self-taught, self-styled star from North Queensland has earned the respect of the music industry and done it all her own way. 

Raised in Cairns, since her mid-teens Lobb has worked tirelessly for her recognition. Admitting her family aren't the slightest bit musical, her first introduction to music came when her father, a local fire fighter, purchased her an acoustic guitar as a gift. “Nobody in my family's musical,” she laughs. “My grandad played the violin, but that's about it. A friend in Grade Seven had a guitar and she played it a bit and so my dad got me one for my birthday. I was copying her and then I started to learn covers. That's when I first started playing around with music,” she recalls.

Building a supportive group of mentors, Lobb's success has been largely of her own doing. Embracing the digital age, she would record songs in her bedroom and upload them to YouTube, opening herself up to criticism but also developing the thick skin and self assurance that would ultimately see her music succeed years later. “I would demo my songs by putting them on YouTube,” she says, of spreading her early music outside of her hometown. “The comments get sent to my email. I read them all, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. There's lots of nice comments, but every once in a while you get a really mean one that you've got to shut out. It's hard.”

As word of mouth spread and her video views skyrocketed, her 2011 single Jungle became a runaway success. Lifted off her debut EP Full Hearts & Empty Rooms, it entered the AIR Independent Distribution charts at number one and 26 weeks later remained in the top spot, achieving gold status for sales exceeding 35,000 copies. The song debuted on triple j's Home And Hosed program and was soon being played across the world, with independent stations in America, Germany and Amsterdam adding it to their playlists. It appeared in the iTunes charts in ten different countries and came in at number 23 on triple j's Hottest 100 countdown. Along with recognition it also brought expectation, all driven from a song written at 2am one morning, recorded to an iPhone and an afterthought for the EP. “After Jungle came out it was like, 'I've got the choice to write songs that are really suited to radio. I could be on the radio a lot and be all up in everyone's grills,” she reflects frankly. ”It took a while to be like, 'No, I'm just going to be myself and do what I think I should do, even though it's going to be a slow rise I want to have longevity in my career.' I think if you're true to yourself and your art then hopefully people like you for who you are and what you do.” A notion she has had to grapple with ever since, she admits her new album's title Vs Head Vs Heart was drawn from the predicament. “It was that battle between: do I give in and do what my head and what other people's heads are saying with more easy to latch on to music, or do I follow my heart and do what my heart is telling me to write? All last year it was my head versus heart in lots of different aspects of my life.” 

Not to be consumed by her burgeoning musical career or self-second guessing, Lobb took a step back in late 2012, spending two months in New York City. Escaping expectations and allowing a moment to pause and reflect on what she had so rapidly achieved, she wanted to experience life. The move, while not conventional, was testament to her maturity and patience, and her music benefited from it. “I started recording the album before I went to New York. When I got there I started listening to different music and had a lot of time to myself where I was demo-ing certain things and playing with different sounds. I came back and added a few more songs to the album and deleted a few songs off the album that didn't really fit in with what I was newly inspired by.”

Content with doing things her own way, Lobb secured a record deal with New York label Frenchkiss, home to Passion Pit, Bloc Party and The Hold Steady. Run by Les Savy Fav bass player Syd Butler, she refers to the label as a family and sees her relationship with the boss as on a personal level. “We had a few American labels that were interested,” she says. “Basically Frenchkiss were just super-cool and didn't try and put anything on us, they didn't talk about money. It was just like, 'You're an artist that we like and we want you to do what you do.'” Of her relationship with Butler, she says, “We've become friends now, which is good. When you get on a personal level with someone, it's easier to talk about and negotiate things.”

Naturally, Australian record labels came knocking, but Lobb stayed firm to her beliefs and has remained independent. “In Australia, when Jungle came out we had lots of labels that were interested and we sat down with most of them. I think in the end I was so scared of getting under a label and them being like, 'You have to do this.' I just wanted to create as much creative space around what I was doing by being independent.” 

Along with her independent outlook, Lobb remains loyal to her home state of Queensland. Even with a successful industry showcase at the prestigious South By Southwest conference last month and international label backing behind her, she maintains a sense of reality. “If I go well in a certain country I'm going to want to go over there for a bit, but I can't see myself moving overseas for a long time. Travelling makes me realise how much I love Australia. I love it here, and Brisbane as well. I don't think I'd move to anywhere else in Australia. All my family's around here and Cairns and that's really important to me.”

Her allegiance to Brisbane has seen her team up with producer and collaborator Matt Redlich, recording the album at her own pace, in her own neighbourhood. “I did try some producers in Sydney, but I'm very homely and I like being in my little house. Matt's studio is just down the road so that was really comfortable. He was very flexible so we could take our time and that played a very important part in the album.” 

Redlich's 'nothing is off limits' approach has seen Lobb's music and indeed imagination flourish, not confined to time frames or external opinions. “It was like a whole other realm,” she says with a sense of satisfied introspection. “We recorded most of it on tape and perfection was thrown out the window. It was like it doesn't need to be perfect; we'll capture it how it is,” a sentiment that has made the fearless young musician a refreshing leader of the pack.