It’s more common for aspiring musicians move from small towns to music hubs like New York or Los Angeles, but Emily Arin did the opposite: the singer and songwriter relocated from L.A. to Montour Falls, a tiny burg in the Finger Lakes region of western New York. That’s where she wrote songs for her debut LP, “Patch of Land,” which she releases herself on Feb. 8. (She has since moved again, this time to Philadelphia.)

She counts Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Hank Williams and Gillian Welch among her influences, but then, so do a lot of people who can’t write for shit. Arin has the goods, though, on “When You Knew Me When,” the free song from “Patch of Land.”

The song actually sounds a little like winter in western New York: desolate, dusky and a little heartbroken. Arin sings in a clear, quiet voice, clean notes from a solo electric guitar cascading around her, and the sound of strings swelling up subtly midway through the song. It’s a lovely introduction to a promising young performer.

LISTEN
When You Knew Me When mp3

January 24, 2011 at 8:30 am | Share |