Portland-based songwriter Maria DeHart is most used to recording with a band, though like so many others in the past eighteen months, they found themselves having to adapt to the circumstances and find a way forward in a more solitary world. What emerged from the period was Quarantunes, an EP which embraced the isolation with quiet, ethereal tones. Songs crafted for the still spaces so many were restricted to, as well as the decidedly less peaceful emotions that many of us were experiencing.
Maria DeHart wrote ‘Emily’ during this same period, though the result is not quite the same. Released as part of Volume One, a compilation by Strawberry Moon Records, the song marks a progression from Quarantunes. Still restrained and isolated, though gradually finding ways to live within these strictures. Learning to cope with less than perfect conditions in ways healthier than frustration or idle dreaming.
Not that the track is not a direct pandemic song. The themes are far more personal. “It’s about crushing on someone new and feeling hopeless in the face of my inability to do anything about it,” DeHart explains. “It’s about feeling trapped and suffocated in a big city and wanting to move to a different one yet also being fully aware that I would still feel trapped in a whole new and bigger place. At the same time, it’s also a hopeful song about figuring out how to feel okay about where I’m at.”
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The track comes complete with a video directed by Kyle Dorfman and you can check it out below:
Volume One is out now on Strawberry Moon Records and you can get it from Bandcamp, including a cassette edition.
