Ema Jolly, better known by her stage name Emika, is an English electronic musician of Czech origin currently residing in Berlin. Her self-titled debut album was released in October 2011 via Ninja Tune and received generally positive reviews.
Biography
Emika, a classically trained musician who studied classical piano and composition, grew up in Milton Keynes, England. She started to make music at school and waitressed to save up for her first Apple Mac and copy of Logic Studio. Emika received her Music Technology degree in Bath, then procured an internship at the offices of the London label Ninja Tune, where she worked for a month. As Bristol music scene was making a transition from drum and bass to dubstep, she went to the first parties organised by Pinch. Speaking of the reasons that made her leave Bristol, Emika explained: "I was very ill, physically, I've had to have some operations which weren't very successful and led to more, and had a long period quite surviving from morphine, really... I was in bed for many weeks. And afterwards in Bristol I became 'the ill girl'... It was very difficult for me to recover and stay in that city". In 2006, she took advantage of a free flight to anywhere in Europe granted by her bank, as she got her account upgraded, flew to Berlin on her own and decided to stay there. In Berlin Emika started working as a sound designer for Native Instruments, all the while honing her own musical style with her laptop, picking up ideas from the dance scene at the Berghain and Panoramabar clubs. Fünf, the compilation album of music crafted from field recordings made inside these clubs by Emika, was released by Ostgut Ton, as part of the celebration of the label's five-year anniversary. Her job at the Native Instruments had an important role in her artistic development, too. "I am focused on the world of sound and the power of the human voice, the instant connections it makes with listeners, in music. In general I feel there is a lack of vocabulary in the field of electronic music", Emika later explained.
"Drop the Other" and debut album (2010)
Ninja Tune appreciated Emika's new, dark, downtempo dubstep direction and in January 2010, released "Drop the Other" as her debut single, which has also found its way into the label's 20th anniversary box set. Since 2009, Emika has appeared on tracks with the likes of Pinch, Kryptic Minds, Paul Frick and MyMy. Her second single "Double Edge" came out in May 2010 to be followed by "Count Backwards" and "Pretend/Professional Loving", the latter came out in September 2011, and was remixed by Brandt Brauer Frick, Kyle Hall and DJ Rashad. On 3 October, 2011, her debut album Emika came out, described as the mix of "bewitching, atmospheric melodies and glitchy electronic beats" and getting good reviews. Emika's music has been described as being influenced by various genres like early dubstep, electronica and classical, critics compared her to PJ Harvey, The xx, Zola Jesus and Beth Gibbons. On 18 October 2011 Emika embarked upon her first American tour, supporting Amon Tobin on his ISAM tour and she has continued to play live shows all over the world throughout 2012 in countries such as Austria, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey. She performed a live set in Berlin for music streaming website Boiler Room in 2012. Despite her self-described "nerdy," studio-based background, Emika notes a major shift in her recent output evolving from the isolated nature of her self-titled debut LP to a more interactive and freewheeling piece of work in 2013's Dva. 2015 saw her two albums: piano opus Klavirni and electronic studio albumDREI. Ibiza Spotlight gave both records their Album Of The Week accolade.
Her music has been used in adverts by Gucci, McLaren and NBC - who used her cover of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game in an episode of The Blacklist, which led to the track reaching No. 1 on iTunes in Canada and No. 2 in the US. She has contributed to film soundtracks, including a trailer for, and her music was used at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Her track, "Professional Loving", was sampled by The Weeknd on his track "Professional" on his debut album Kiss Land.
Collaborations
Emika has collaborated with artists and producers such as Tommy Four Seven, Pinch, Nick Hoppner, Paul Frick,, Amon Tobin and Marcel Dettmann. She has recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2014 she revealed plans to create a full orchestral symphony. She has been shot by photographers including Bettina Rheims and Madison. Emika contributed a remix to the Nicholas Sutton soundtrack album Angels Dreams Inches released as a limited 12" vinyl.
Emika Records
Emika launched her own label in 2014, Emika Records, initially as a platform to release her own music. The debut release was a 12" entitled Melancholia Euphoria.
