Emily Bezar

Album Reviews and
Artist Reflections

with links to a most
intimate portrait

(Entire Interview)

Emily has a lovely soprano voice and her music frequently exhibits the vocal gymnastics of a highly trained classsical musician. She told us, "The melodies come and my voice just goes into automatic shift mode. I don't think about the technique of it unless I'm singing when I'm sick and then the wheels have to start turning. I have a pretty traditional soprano voice, in the sense that I have register breaks that I blend over and my voice is usually not too breathy. I don't have one of those powerful Broadway-belter voices—I get my power in the upper register like opera singers do, by fine tuning the resonant spaces in my head." (more)

Grandmother's Tea Leaves Image © 1993 Olio Records

Grandmother's Tea Leaves. Emily's debut album is comprised of ten tracks and has a running time over 63 minutes long. Largely experimental in its construction, some will find it to be a musical challenge "a few giant steps past Tori Amos and Kate Bush. The album is full of contemporary classical and state of the art electronic realisations, and she's brave enough to use her classically disciplined soprano as it was trained to be used." (Richard Lehnert, May 1994).

Clearly the most experimental track on the album is its concluding track "Madame's Reverie." Emily told us about it, "It remains the most challenging piece I've composed, as it was a purely sonic journey with nothing but a sound trajectory and pure psychological states to portray. No melodies/lyrics to delineate form or get in the way of immediate emotional cry. Formally, "Madames' Reverie" has a "program." It's a short scene from the unabridged version of Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" but it's mainly about sound and how sound can rip me away from me." (more)

The album requires more patience to appreciate than most albums classed as rock, however, repeated listening will reveal tremendous sonic textures, and allusions to progressive, gothic and classical contemporary music can eventually be made. The calling nature of Emily's soprano voice comes through in samples used in the album's introduction entitled "Hypertrophia" which is largely underscored with electronically generated orchestral instrumentation. "Avalanche" is typical of the album's ballad-like numbers, although it is not a traditional song at all. Piano and electronic instrumentation vary from quiet to full spledour to underscore the heartfelt and soaring lyrical lead vocal.

Emily Bezar Image © 1996 DemiVox Records

Jazz piano sets the mood for a memorable vocal number entitled "Avalanche" while heartfelt operatic vocals and piano contribute to the sensitively delivered "I Tear Down." The track "Barracade" mixes a jazzy piano melody with soaring but otherwise lullaby-style vocals.

Emily used a string quartet on the title track of the album comprised of two violin, viola and cello. Vocal gymnastics are supported by multi-tracked duet style harmonies, sung in a more classical operatic style. Moodier tracks mix searching electronic excursions with piano and soaring operatic vocal experimentation. Examples include "La Place Dauphine" sung in French and the more symphonically arranged piano and electronics in "Rest Me Here." The layers of vocals in the Kate Bush-style epic "Just Like Orestes" release the tension built by the operatic lead and light piano melodies and electronic music excursions. The extensive mood shifts within the track and extensive instrumental arrangements are most characteristic of progressive classics.

We asked Emily to tell us about the writing and production process. She told us, "I combined tracks from my home midi-studio and a large recording studio. Sometimes I think I should go into construction management! Building a house, with all the details, must be something like this. So much of the way I record is determined by the budget I have to work within, but I think that's one of the great rewards of independent record making. You find ways to be resourceful within your means and you rise to the challenge. With enough rehearsal and preproduction, you can approach the recording photographically and capture some really great moments rather than fuss for weeks in the studio." (more)

While this debut album is a challenging listen from some perspectives, Emily's classical training is effectively blended with a slight air of accessibility. It's not for everybody, but as Richard Lehnert said, "There's enough importance here to keep the serious, open-eared listener busy for years; more to the point, it's encrypted with enough grace to keep that listener happy for the duration. But if you believe that when rock gets serious, it gets dead, then stay away."

Moon in Grenadine Image © 1996 DemiVox Records

Moon in Grenadine. Emily's second album is an eleven track, 64-minute recording, blending more contemporary rock with jazz and classical origins. The addition of band members Morris Acevedo (guitar), Andrew Higgins (bass) and Steve Rossi (drums) rounds out the album's sound and contributes to a higher accessibility of the individual tracks. The album's guest are Chris Grady (trumpet) and Dave Barrett (tenor sax). Emily performs vocals, piano and electronic keyboards. A greater similarity to Kate Bush's recordings is evident from the instrumental arrangements while the soaring vocal excursions continue to illustrate Emily's virtuosity.

The album's most rocking numbers combine jazz inspirations with otherwise grooving sensibilities and include "40 Mansions" and the swinging and highly memorable song-like "Dream Gasoline." We especially liked the progressive style of "Gingerbread" with its various electric guitar and bass movements contrasting Emily's searching and soaring vocal part. Soft vocal numbers are backed by piano and light instrumentals. The style is most evident in "White Cedar," "In This House" and "Ever Mine" (from which the album's title is derived) where soft lullaby-like songs with soaring vocal work is accompanied exclusively by piano. "Opiate Cheer" and "Chevalier Lune" are performed in similar, but more broadly instrumentally arranged, style. The piano parts within the tracks are especially notable.

Emily Bezar Image © 1996 DemiVox Records

We especially enjoyed the progressive structure of "Dancing Past Eylsium." It blends jazz trumpet and piano with rock guitar, drum and bass arrangements. Soaring lead vocals are balanced with lovely multi-tracked harmony parts. Individual themes within the track appear to effectively combine as it reaches its powerful conclusion.

While Emily doesn't have an extensive touring budget, she and the band get out and play live. She told us, "It's a big frustration for me but I know that a band tour will happen someday and that I need to wait to do it right. I may be able to do some solo travelling in the coming year but for now I perform mainly in the Bay Area. My shows have ranged from solo concerts to full electric band shows. Right now I'm having a lot of fun as a piano trio. We just did a few shows at a jazz club in San Francisco and it was great to see how I could pare my arrangements down to the rhythm section basics and the songs still gathered steam. The bigger the vehicle, the harder it is to improvise, to steer quickly—too many legs to snag in the spokes. I would love to have a six-piece band churning like a speedboat, soaring and diving in the waves."

Certain to please female vocal enthusiasts, Emily Bezar's second album is rich with vocal experimentation and when coupled with the jazz themes and Kate Bush allusions, it is worth lots of further exploration.

Four Walls Bending Image © 1999 DemiVox Records

Four Walls Bending. The third album from Emily Bezar continues to illustrate extensive development of the artist's sound. Thicker arrangements are evident throughout, with more emphasis on electronic orchestration joining the band from her prior album. Emily is again joined by Morris Acevedo (guitar), Andrew Higgins (bass) and Steve Rossi (drums). Piano, keyboard and sound programming as well as all vocals are performed by Emily herself. Individual instrumental solos include vast sonic excursions propelling the album clearly into progressive rock ranks. Vocals are equally sensitive yet seem far less experimental and are therefore more accessible, and are more Kate Bush-like in many places.

She told us a bit more about the making of the album, "In fact, an old Sequential six-track was quite the workhorse on this album. "Filigree of Noon" started as a piano song in 1997, but I stripped the piano out entirely and orchestrated the whole thing electronically. It was quite a new and thrilling challenge for me and one that I hope to do much more of soon. Making this album was quite a nightmare of logistics, going between my own small midi-studio and a big 48-track analog studio in San Francisco. The only way I could afford to make the big album I wanted was to find foolproof sync parallels between home and the studio. I had an amazing engineer who worked his tail off to make the sessions go insanely smoothly and quickly. I owe a lot to him for the depth of the sound and the dynamic shape of the record. And my band made even the biggest parts of the songs rise and fall gracefully. I was very lucky to have recorded with such talented people." (more)

Emily Bezar Image © 1999 DemiVox Records

While rock sensibilities dominate the album more than the prior recordings, the jazz and classical influences have not been lost. "Velvet Eye" is more of a rocking number while "Kingdom Come" mixes orchestral progressive rock with jazz styles to stunning effect. Vocals continue to soar and exploit the classical discipline in Emily's training.

The title track is a slowly rocking vocal number accompanied by a variety of different textures with the electric guitar playing a more pronounced part. Soaring vocal excursions, in typical Emily Bezar style embrace the listener and they are underscored by thicker arrangements, and lots of bass. Melodies are more evident in their accessability but are contrasted at times with elements of soaring vocal experimentaton in "Lead," the jazz-influenced "Sigh" and building style of "Maybe So" The mix works quite well and blends with the thicker arrangements as well.

Electronics join traditional instrumentation and sensual vocal work in "Black Sand" a slow track that builds in a progressive style effectively combining different melodies and themes. We especially enjoyed the instrumental movement within "Rondo," a highly accessible tune certain to please the broadest of audiences despite the progressive nature in which the themes vary.

Emily Bezar Image © 2000 Tom Erikson

"His Everything" can be most closely compared to a traditional ballad in its construction. Sung with orchestral style progressive instrumental arrangements, the vocals are sung sensually combining operatic excursions with Kate Bush accessibility. The electronic instrumentation within the song works quite well. The lovely track concludes the album.

We asked Emily about the impact of the web on her musical career. She told us, "I wouldn't have any audience at all outside of the Bay Area were it not for the internet! I guess my own website is now like an information kiosk for people who hear about me in other ways." She continued, "Eventually, I'd like it to be richer and deeper; to present more of my process and link into a broader context." (more)