A Louisville Up-and-Comer

See Emily Play (Independent)

See Emily Play

By Ronke Oyekunle

I recently had the opportunity to watch and listen to an up-and-coming Louisville band called See Emily Play at J. Gumbo's Popular Level Road location. This band's apparent following initially catches your attention, and then the sound of the steady acoustic guitar gradually pulls you in as a listener. Following that, the lead singer Emily Jane Clark warmly invites the crowd to partake in the band's performance of classic rock songs with a request from the audience.

Their self-titled CD displays a nice array of songs that highlights this band's musical ability. The album begins with an up-tempo love song called "The Brook." Like the lyrics of the song, the drum remains steady, the guitar plays forcefully and the vocals maintain a nice push through to the end, where a surprise electric guitar solo pleasantly greets the ear.

A must-hear song on the CD is "Believe," with its familiar instrumental melody. This ballad has an upbeat moderate tempo appropriate to the lyrics. The song is about a woman appealing to her man by writing him a song to make him believe she loves him love or as the words say, "I'm going to write you a love song just to prove that I can … to make you feel like my man … but you won't believe me."

A musical movement has arrived with a refreshing grassroots appeal. A self-described acoustic rock band, See Emily Play definitely is a band to watch. Clearly, See Emily Play does not have the force of a record label behind them, but the band definitely has the dream of any artist, and is building a strong local following.

Visit www.sepmusic.com and/or www.myspace.com/emilyjaneclark for more information on See Emily Play.