I’m a geek. There is no way around this, it’s just true. Though, really, you can geek out over anything these days. I’m a “music geek” and a “Mad Men geek” and even a geek for Malo’s Tacos. But, yes, this time, I am referring to the tried-and-true usage of “geek”: The sci-fi fantasy kind.
It’s this genus of the geek species that led me to Emiliana Torrini.
As the credits were rolling on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in late 2002, I thought to myself, “oh, that’s cool, they got Björk this time.” The previous incarnation had chosen Enya to highlight its ending song, and the movie after chose Annie Lennox, who won the Oscar that year (oh yeah, and I’m a HUGE Oscar geek). But later, I realized that I had been duped by the Björk-esque resonance of Emiliana Torrini’s voice in “Gollum’s Song” with it’s impish similarities and her Icelandic origins.
Which, in turn, led me to her more folksy album, “Fisherman’s Woman”, from which we get the “Sunny Road” single, which solidified me as, dare I say, a geek for Emiliana.
Her latest album from 2008, “Me and Armini,” saw tracks that paid homage to the folk roots like “Beggar’s Prayer” and “Birds”, but showed amazing growth and range in songs like “Heard It All Before”, the catchy “Big Jumps” or the remix favorite “Jungle Drum”.
KCRW/Goldenvoice/whatever presents Emiliana Torrini at the El Rey tonight, August 19th. This is an awesome venue that has the old theatre/cabaret feel down, just don’t bring your chewing gum (they make you spit/throw it out because of the carpeting). Doors at 8. Anya Marina at 9. Emiliana at ??
Emiliana Torrini – “Heard It All Before”
Emiliana Torrini – “Ha Ha”
Emiliana Torrini – “Sunny Road (Manasseh Mix)”
