A side-by-side duo, Esme Emerson’s sibling rapport is joyfully infectious; on-screen, over Zoom, they joke with each other and build out each other’s ideas. The Lee-Scott pair are calling from Suffolk where they live or, as they say: “It’s where Ed Sheeran’s from, it’s where sheep are from”. As for their music, it matches their thoughtful, creative energy.
On their latest EP, the family act explores everything from the complicated feelings of love to appealing to your queer inner child. So, as they’re excitedly experimenting with sound, Big Leap, No Faith, Small Chancer comes together as a statement project – an amalgamation of new sounds, trialled, tested and mutually agreed upon. Esme Emerson doesn’t release anything they haven’t both signed off, and it’s a bond that keeps them both in step with one another.
Family acts aren’t anything new, we’ve all heard of Oasis, Haim and The Jacksons, but Esme Emerson’s magnetism comes down to their own chemistry; a relationship of trust and subversive indie pop. Now, following their consecutive UK tour dates with The Japanese House and releasing their debut project with Communion Records, Esme Emerson spoke to GAY TIMES about going on tour, experiencing racism in rural England and their big band ambitions.
How has your sibling relationship affected your creative dynamic with one another?
Esme: We’re best friends and when we’re writing music, especially, we’ve realised we don’t really have to talk – it’s kind of telepathic.
Emerson: It feels like we share a brain, which is great. I don’t think we’ve had any issues.
It’s almost spiritual alignment then…
Esme: Let’s talk about astrology, this is a queer, let’s talk about astrology. Emerson’s partner has this book and it compares every birth week with every birth week ever and it talks about the compatibility of every birth week. So it showed that ours was the best one for siblings and the worst one was for coworkers. It’s because we’re siblings, we’re able to be completely ourselves with each other. It was so easy to make this work.
Emerson: It’s sibling brain! We share a musical, similar headspace so it feels good.
You’ve recently toured with The Japanese House who has a truly dedicated indie-pop queer following. Meanwhile, your following has been landing incredibly online, especially with TikTok, where you almost have 10k followers. Has the platform helped you reach your audience in the way you expected?
Emerson: Good question. TikTok’s a really interesting one, and I think we’ve been really lucky to reach an audience who occupy a lot of minority spaces, whether that be sort of gender identity or race. I think that’s important as those two things are really important for us as well.
Esme: It’s nice to feel a reflection of yourself in your audience. It’s important for everyone to feel safe.
Emerson: I feel very fortunate to have built the community so far that we have. We grew up in the countryside. It’s quite white and conservative, so I think we’ve gone through life not necessarily in the safest of spaces.
We’ve grown up in Suffolk and, now, we’re regularly in and out of London and around communities where we feel more welcome and represented, there’s a certain level of that that I think we carry with us.
Esme: We went to this small high school where there was a lot of racism. My friendship group was largely queer but the intersectionality of my identities didn’t allow me to feel as safe being both queer, as someone who’s Asian. So, it was weird growing up. I feel like we’ve made a lot of friends now who have similar upbringings and we get to campfire story share.
We have to talk about ‘Truck Song’, I can’t get enough of it. How did you conceptualise that song?
Emerson: We’d just come out of our first EP and we were looking to make something that fit the vibe of what we were listening to a little bit more, something more upbeat.
Esme: It’s interesting because the song is about trying to convince someone that you are enough and, during the song writing process, we found ourselves trying to make it as joyous and fun as possible – almost desperately so. Ultimately, the meaning of this song manifested itself in the efforts taken to make it joyous, fun and good enough!
Emerson: ‘Truck Song’ is a funny one because of its title but it’s coming from a place of belonging but then also just being in love and trying to make something that felt really joyous.
How did the rest of the EP come together?
Esme: ‘Please’ was first, and then it was Truck and then ‘Afraid Of Losing’. ‘Please’ went through maybe seven versions of itself and I think that was us pulling that at the end of really worrying about what other people wanted to hear rather than what we like. I honestly think that’s why we re-wrote it so many times.
Emerson: It was learning that we didn’t have to make the perfect thing on the first try which is something that I have felt a lot. But, with ‘Please’ I think we allowed ourselves a little more grace.
Esme: Again, to fit with the concept of the EP, it’s part of the trials and tribulations of young queer love, which felt fitting.
How did you let go of needing this EP to feel like the perfect project?
Emerson: I do feel like there’s a pressure to be perfect and not make a mistake. I feel it, especially on social media. I think it allows anybody to be critical of whatever you’re doing. It’s so easy to access artists and their souls. I feel we’re baring our souls on TikTok, which feels really silly, but it’s like you kind of have to at some point. Then, it feels easy for people on there to be like “I don’t like this.”.
It’s more to prove myself but, in the end with music, we have tried to lean into imperfections. I think that’s what makes the music kind of special, well to me at least. Sometimes I need to get myself out of the “it needs to be perfect” headspace, and instead just say I’m just going to make something.
What’s next for Es and Em?
Esme: Back into writing more music, we’re unstoppable! We always joke that we’re going to be in our 70s and still writing our songs.
Emerson: I’m excited to make our full first record and we’re working our way there, that feels really exciting. I love making EPs, but there’s something interesting and exciting about the idea of being more thoughtful about a whole body of work, with the track listing and the themes. And, then, I want to tour with the full band.
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