Canadian born but raised in Ireland, singer-songwriter Cormac Russell has taken his music across the globe, including tours in England and China. He released his fourth album titled ‘The Year I Broke The Stars’ last year, winning favourable reviews, as well as airplay on national and international radio.
He will be releasing his sixth LP titled ‘Prisoners’ this April. Playing all the instruments himself, he draws from a wide range of influences; from indie contemporaries like Kurt Vile and Bill Callahan to literary giants like Whitman and Rimbaud.
New single ‘Emma’ is written from the point of view of a potential killer or kidnapper, or at the very least a stalker of some sort. He watches her at the train station, noticing that her makeup and clothes have changed, and that she takes interest in a passing stranger. The chimes with the rest of the songs on the album in its subject matter; the narrator if you will is trapped by his obsession with this girl called Emma, and it’s implied in the second verse that she’s taken prisoner. The music is driven by a standard rock beat, and a chugging guitar pattern, but if you listen closely, you’ll notice that the chords are rather unconventional progressions. This track was written and recorded by Cormac at home during lockdown. You can stream ‘Emma’ below:
