Birmingham-based electronic artist Emily Jones aka Echo Juliet creates cell-tingling sounds inspired by the desire to escape the chaotic world around her. Blending a myriad of elements from genres like garage, deep house, jazz and soul, the classically-trained musician is preparing to release her debut mini-album, Abandon Reality, on October 27th via her new label Invisible IDs.
A passionate advocate for gender and class equality in music, Echo Juliet is open about her own experiences and struggles as a working-class musician. She uses her voice and her art to demystify the act of creating and producing, as well as leading the Future Proof project for Bradley Zero’s Rhythm Section label, which aims to improve representation in the electronic music scene. Her upcoming album, Abandon Reality, will be the first release on her own label, which she hopes will become a platform to spotlight electronic music by women & gender-expansive producers.
We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Echo Juliet ask about her “Five Favourites” – five songs that have inspired her songwriting techniques. Check out her choices below and scroll down to listen to her latest single ‘Life On Trains’ at the end of this post.
1. Four Tet – ‘Lush’
Oddly, I think I first heard this song being used over the end credits for a TV show. The sound of the hang drum immediately caught my attention and I replayed the end of the episode on iPlayer, just so I could Shazam it and find out what it was. I was delighted when I found out it was an early Four Tet tune, because I’ve been a fan of his music for over 10 years. The iconic sound in this track is a hang drum, which I first discovered when my percussion teacher at university bought one. At that point, you could only buy a hang by going to visit the factory in Switzerland, so it felt like an exotic and beautiful item to own. I never forgot that sound, and for a while I carried an ambition to include it in one of my own songs. I finally managed it with ‘Red Sun’ and funnily enough, lots of people have told me it reminds them of an old-school Four Tet song!
2. Hiatus Kaiyote – ‘Breathing Underwater’
I often describe Hiatus Kaiyote as my favourite band. This is probably my favourite track from the album Choose Your Weapon, but it’s all brilliant. I discovered their first album while I was working for Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2013, and I clearly remember the first time I heard this song. I was walking from the train station to the office in Cheltenham on a sunny day. I was so absorbed by how complex and beautiful it was, that when I stopped listening for a moment to cross a road, I had to rewind to make sure I didn’t miss anything! Their influence on my own music is probably not audible, but I did steal the pitch bend at the start of Choose Your Weapon for the beginning of my tune ‘Eating the Rich’. And ‘Red Sun’ originally started out as a remix of a Hiatus Kaiyote song. After a while, it evolved into something else, so I removed all the original stems and changed the chords. I’ll let you work out which song it used to be, there’s a clue in the name…
3. Floating Points – ‘Falaise’
I’ve been a Floating Points fan for a while, but lockdown was when this song really became embedded in my consciousness, just as I started spending a lot more time producing my own music. I was going for walks every day and on one walk, this tune literally stopped me in my tracks. The way it blends electronic music techniques and classical instruments felt mindblowing to me, as a classically trained musician. I went straight home, googled how he had made those fluttering effects and tried to recreate it myself. Those attempts eventually became the breakdown in the middle of ‘Eating the Rich’.
4. Anchorsong – ‘Ceremony’
This was another lockdown walk favourite, and it was a tough choice between ‘Ceremony’ and ‘Butterflies’. Much like with the Floating Points tune, I had heard the song before but suddenly saw it in a new light because I had started making music myself. The combination of organic and electronic sounds felt like the perfect representation of what I was trying to do with my music. I remember trying to copy this drum groove very early on in my producing, and it was definitely an influence on ‘We Move’. I had the pleasure of supporting Anchorsong at Moth Club last year, and hearing this song live for the first time was amazing.
5. Neue Grafik – ‘Dance to Yemanja’
I think I first discovered this tune and the Rhythm Section Intl label back in 2019, through my friend and DJ/broadcaster Tina Edwards shouting about it online. I liked it at the time, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I bought it on vinyl and listened to it repeatedly. For me it’s all about the groove, which has a kind of lightness I’d love to achieve in my music. The drum programming treads a line between feeling driving and electronic, but also drawing on broken beat with all these lovely little drum fills. The synth sounds are beautifully fluid too. I loved this song so much that I once sat down and analysed the structure to try and use it as the basis for a track of my own.
Since discovering this tune I’ve actually started working for Rhythm Section, and about 6 months ago one of the team there introduced me to Fred (aka Neue Grafik) who I have also been working with on a non-musical project over the last few months. I had the honour of seeing him perform as a special guest with Jeff Mills last month which was the best gig I’ve seen in a VERY long time – it was like an extended live version of this tune! I don’t think I’ve told him how much I like this song though…
Thanks to Echo Juliet for sharing her Five Favourites with us!
Listen to her latest single ‘Life On Trains’ below
Follow Echo Juliet via:
Official Website, bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter (X), Instagram & Facebook
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