video premiere: "Lauren Lorelai" - Emma Lee Toyoda
A little less than a week ago Emma Lee Toyoda released her first full length debut, sewn me anew. Joined by members Adelyn Westerholm (violin), Veronica Johanson (harmonies), Khyre Matthews (bass) and Zeke Bender (drums), the ten-track release is gorgeous "sadgirlrock" that will leave you eager to step into 2017 with dreamy ambitions. Today we bring you the video premiere of album track "Lauren Lorelai," which Emma explains in detail below.
For the past two years I've been regularly playing shows in the Seattle-Bellingham area and posting music under Emma Lee Toyoda, switching between guitar and banjo with a fluctuating band of drums, bass, violin and harmonies. As a 20-year-old Japanese-Korean American woman, there is a clear lack of representation across many mediums for Asian American women, but I find the music industry to be a particularly disheartening landscape. Despite this, I've been working on this album for the past year, putting together and polishing songs that I've written over the last few years, while also serving as band manager, booker, marketer, et. al.
For this music video, I chose to work with my good friends from Cornish College of the Arts, Anissa Amalia & Josh Vredevoogd; creating a narrative that reflects some of the emotions of anger and frustration that I felt when writing "Lauren Lorelai."
The Grey Estates