Within The Inner Workings

As a Cairns schoolgirl, Emma Louise Lobb's introduction to the music industry came by way of a charity Christmas carol gig, with a string of residencies in bars and cafes serving as an evening apprenticeship in live performance thereafter. After moving to Brisbane to build a support team to launch her career, Lobb's 2011 debut EP Full Hearts And Empty Rooms achieved gold sales and endeared her to a national audience besotted with the single Jungle which placed at number 23 in triple j's Hottest 100. A swag of incredible opportunities piled up including high profile syncs on Grey's Anatomy and ABC drama The Slap, in addition to international showcases at South By Southwest and The Great Escape. Lobb looks back at the breakthrough success of her debut EP and very candidly shares how it shaped her first album, Vs Head Vs Heart. 

“At the time I don't think I really knew what was happening; it took until I went to New York last year to be like, 'Wow' – and to really reflect on it [and consider] this is really good what's happening. I was just so grateful of everything and just really motivated to give everything 100 per cent...” Lobb says of finding a moment to process her achievements over two months in the Big Apple, and assess the work already completed on Vs Head Vs Heart.

“New York was funny; I'd read all these articles and you hear stories of famous people that are like, 'I go to New York and I meet all these amazing people and I was immersed in all this culture and blah blah blah, cool people, etcetera, etcetera', she hams, waving her hands about and bunging on a posh accent. “But like, I literally went there and found it super hard to make friends and I was really kind of lonely. I didn't really write too many songs; I kinda just walked around a lot. I hung out with my label a bit; I got to know them which was good. And I did some demoing when I was there and really I just listened to what I'd worked on with the album a lot; basically what it did was it cleared me out of any kind of angst or any blockages in continuing forward, because after I'd left, three weeks into going to New York I was like, 'Holy fuck, all I want to do is go back home and just smash it'. I rekindled this fire that hasn't gone out, even now. I'm just like 'Whoa, what is this hunger to want more and more and more and write heaps?' And I think that came from going to New York which is like the biggest city in the world you know as far as the hippity-happenin' kinda thing, and then meeting people – buskers on the street or friends of friends that I met randomly – and then seeing them really love music.”

While the trip late in 2012 gave Lobb a fresh outlook on her sound, the lively songstress had already had to confront the runaway success of Jungle, which hit the top ten in Italy in April courtesy of a remix by German electro-producer Wankelmut.

“…I did feel a lot of pressure from the EP and I think that really affected me for the first few months of deciding on where I was gonna record the album, and writing and stuff; in my writing I was really confused because I was like, 'Do I write another Jungle?' I just realised that I needed to do what I was meant to do and I shouldn't let Jungle or the success of Jungle limit my creativity. Then I just set out on this journey of experimenting with different producers, and then when I found [producer] Matt [Redlich] he even further expressed his ideas for not living inside the box of Jungle – it was like, 'We can just do whatever the fuck we want!'” she laughs.

“Also on the live side of things,” Lobb continues, “I was at a stage when Jungle came out where it was like I had all these acoustic songs, really bare bones, softer stuff, and then it was, Jungle! – it was like a punch,” she says with a little yell. “Nobody really understood my music very much when there was just Jungle, so I guess I kind of resented it for that reason until I held it's hand again and was like, 'You're all good – come along'.”

Lobb has a delightful way of referring to her songs as friends, ones that alternately help her resolve internal battles and even sometimes piss her off. Having made amends with Jungle, though still overpassing it for a place on Vs Head Vs Heart which debuted at number 12 on the ARIA charts upon its March release, Lobb now takes issue with album single Freedom – a sweetly articulated slow burner with a driving bass groove underneath a daze of kaleidoscopic embellishments. “It is not my friend. It is my rude neighbour who comes over unannounced at my birthday party and introduces itself to all my friends…” she declares on a very honest track-by-track description of the album on her website. Lobb can be harsh on her friends, but they usually work it all out in the end.

“…I really respect it because if it wasn't for Freedom I don't think that Mirrors would have got on triple j, or like I don't think that I would have got the rest of my music that was from my heart out to all the people, so I guess it's a very useful tool…” she concedes. “When you go through the recording process and you're just so attached to it, when it becomes apparent that maybe the only reason why you're doing that song is for it to be a single, it kind of taints it with this like – 'Oh my god, I'm not being true to myself, this song is the object of my trying to be something else' – kind of thing… Over the past few rehearsals it's just been like, 'You're alright to play live...' And so I think if the revival comes from anywhere it will be from that.”

Vs Head Vs Heart is affecting for Lobb's transparent vocal, a calmly considered communiqué from a young woman finding her way in life and love. It's a carefully crafted record in which dynamic is found in beautiful yet subtle shading that rewards via the reveals of repeat listens, rather than through Jungle-like peaks.

“That's where the Vs Head Vs Heart title came from. Throughout the album there was different things poking their head in at different times going like: 'You should put really fucking loud drums on this song and four-to-the-floor, just like pump it along – we could make this a fucking radio single!' she says excitedly, putting a voice to one part of her creative persona. “But then it was my heart being like, 'No, come on you wrote this song about this and imagine if you started hating the song because it's not something that you wanted it to be'. So it was very organic; it wasn't like I was being: 'I want it to be medium-to-soft tempo music', it was just the songs I was writing, and putting on them what I thought needed to be put on them [steering the sound]. There were lots of times in the studio where I kind of pulled the reigns back... I'm not putting the lid on being an up-tempo artist or even a pop artist – I'm just doing whatever is good for the now…”

In the musical battle between head and heart, Lobb's heart clearly won; her dogged determination to be true to herself is an admirable quality for a 21-year-old. Conversely, she's headstrong too; she wants a lengthy career as a songwriter and recording artist and has very clear ideas on how to achieve this. Making the strategic decision to remain independent in Australia while signing to labels that offered creative freedom above other deal perks – Frenchkiss in the States and Vertigo in Germany for continental Europe – Lobb isn't interested in merely capitalising on short-term gains.

“I would just love to be an internationally respected songwriter – I don't want to peak to the top of anything. You know, that stage would be nice, but I want to make it so I'm doing it in a very honest way so I won't be like schoooom,” she indicates, with a hand shooting to the ceiling. “I'd want to be pretty even. But I guess what I want to do is make sure I can keep touring and really build an audience overseas as well as Australia… I definitely notice how I have very big goals and expectations of myself; I definitely have a plan you know, and it scares me how high I set the bar, and I do really work hard to get towards it. I'm just really hungry to be better.”