Analogue Appreciation: Emma-Jean Thackray

Emma-Jean Thackray’s upcoming album Weirdo was recorded, mixed, produced and written entirely in her south London flat. Listening to its lead single ​‘Wanna Die’, which features multi-layered vocals, floating paddy synthesisers and shuffling jazz drums that sound tighter than many a studio recording, it’s a shock.

But it’s a deeply personal album, which she had originally conceived as an exploration of her neurodivergence, took a turn after the passing of her long-term partner. Soon, it developed into a canvas for grief and resilience. ​“I don’t wanna die / I just wanna sleep for a while / Maybe forever / I’ll say that I’m fine” she sings.

It gives a different perspective to the fact that she recorded the album in her home, removing any separation between work and play. The result is deeply intimate, and across its 11 tracks, she lays bare her story in diary-esque fashion. For Analogue Appreciation, our new series celebrating the power of physical culture in a world dominated by screens, Emma-Jean invited us into her flat to share her most cherished physical items.

I have five singing bowls but this one is my favourite. It’s the biggest I have and it’s a fat low D. If you strike it and put your head directly above it’s a beautiful sensation. I love the marks from the hammering, and like to hold it and imagine the care that went into creating it. It lives next to some photos of my family and a painting of Gail Platt from Coronation Street.

I have hundreds of percussion instruments. Literally hundreds. A lot of them are from other places in the world, like some shakers and a pandeiro I got when I lived in São Paulo for a while. One of my favourites (which hasn’t made it onto a record yet) is this ​“circular triangle” gifted to me by a friend after some time in Nairobi. It’s actually part of a stolen car engine and it’s so loud it makes your skull ring.

One of my prized possessions is this action figure of John Coltrane. I’m not sure what John would think if he saw an action figure of himself, but he sits on my shelf. I like to think that when I sleep he comes out of the packaging and jams with my Miles Davis figurine. I need to find them a rhythm section.

Charles Mingus, jazz bassist and composer, loved cats. Like, really loved cats. Many important people in my life also love cats, so I’ve worked hard on getting over my childhood fear of them – my earliest memory is of my grandma’s cat eating my budgie in front of me. Having the ability to toilet train cats, force them to act against their nature, and submit to human bathroom habits means I hold dominion over the feline kingdom. Long, slow, steady revenge.

This is my copy of Allen Ginsberg​’s collected poems. It’s a UK first edition that I stumbled across at a book shop in Cardiff. Like any once insufferable teenager who wore thick-rimmed glasses and unironically owned several berets, I have read Howl many times. Some bonus items in the shot are a Quasimodo figurine, a clay cast of my bottom teeth and a tiny Subutteo streaker.

Weirdo by Emma-Jean Thackray is out April 25.

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