Customer Reviews

Public

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought "Public" totally on a whim from Amazon and immediately fell in love. Emm has an amazing penchant for switching from one theme to another, one musical style to another. There is nothing repetitive or familiar about her style. As some may compare her to Tori or Sarah, Emm has a fresh, honest take on her subjects with an incredible ability to write great melodies. In fact, Emm plays many of the instruments on the album (piano, bass, guitar, wurlitzer, mellotron, synths, hammond organ). Her dedication to music is clear. On the surface, her songs are simple accounts of everyday issues (love, independence, resolutions). However, on a deeper lever, Emm attempts more complicated explorations of spirituality and life. The combination of haunting lyrics ("Did I lost my tune to one of Jupiter's moons?) and openly self-examining lyrics("What is this? This foreign breath I'm lying with? Thieves are never sweet....") ("I've had X number of endings. When do I begin?") make for an amazing, powerful, refreshingly creative album that I would highly recommend to anyone willing to chance it on a new, promising artist. To put it simply, she's incredible.

This is one of the best albums that Amazon has recommended for me. I had never heard of Emm, but decided to try her album on a whim, basically to test out Amazon's choice. I love her blend of pop with edge and great lyrics. Her vocals are a bit trendy, but addictive. I can put this album on repeat and listen for hours before thinking of switching. She has a great way of making choruses stick in your head, and I honestly enjoy the more melancholy songs like "Acid" more than the pop tunes. I also like the fact that I've heard some of these songs in Felicity scenes. This is just a solid album, the kind I love to listen to while driving in the sunshine or playing on the computer. If you like Chantal, Jann Arden, or Mary Beth, you'll love this album.

Nothing much more to add to the many other reviews. This album is solid start to finish and is definitely worth adding to your collection. It is more of pop/rock feel than her later work, but not pop/rock in the annoying commercial sense, not at all in fact.

Emm Gryner and Tara MacLean are probably the two most underrated female Canadian singers who often get lost in sea of the huge number of successful and talented Canadian women such as Sarah McLachlan, Alanis, Chantal Kreviazuk, Jann Arden and Nelly Furtado. Like many of the reviewers have said it is really unfortuante that more people don't know about Emm. Pick up this CD and give her a listen, her only better work might be AsianBlue, although Science Fair really grows with repeat listens.

I can't compare Emm to Tori and she's certainly many leagues above Natalie Imbruglia, however she holds her own in the class of highly talented, intense singer and songwriters in the Gen X genre.

Certain songs hit home more than others, of course it all depends on what you look for in music. I love how a song takes me back to the past and forces me to remember things I need to deal with or helps me clarify the present. This CD certainly does that in spades. Songs like Acid with supremely powerful lyrics like "You just dropped your bomb like blood on Tuesday night" "Hurt me you can't kill me whatever you wanna do - Hey I'll always wish I was with you".

All in all, this CD will get A LOT of life in my CD player.

From the aching honesty of 'Acid' and The 'End', ( deep as Tori, strong as Fiona ) to the blistering sun swept 'Summerlong', this debut startled me. Accomplished and youthful Gryner sings with a conviction way beyond her years. Playing bass, guitar, piano and various keyboards she sounds like a woman who knows what she wants but isn't afraid to share the trials she had to endure to get there. While not as weighty as OK Computer, this album has the substace of Radiohead combined with the drama of the Verve. If she really is only 22 who knows what this girl will be capable of next time! Stellar debut.

Rarely is such honesty and emotion displayed through music these days. Emm is part of what I like to call the greater music community or to the late person, Canada. This cd is spectacular for many reasons, one being Dave Genn (Matthew Good Band) does most of the lead work on guitar. I could listen to this cd straight through a million times. Summerlong is probally the worst track on the album, and believe me its still a great song. I recomend this cd to anyone who enjoys lite alternative music, its a wonder this album didnt put her on the map of the global community. I cannot say enough about this album except that this is a purchase you will never regret.

The first major label release from Emm Gryner is a little known treasure. Essentially a more polished version of her true debut album "The Original Leap Year" (also excellent, with a rougher sound to it), "Public" contains most of the same tracks with more lush production and instrumentation. For some reason that still eludes me this album received little promotion, and Emm was subsequently dropped from her label. There are several 'should have been radio hit' songs on this album, including the upbeat "Summerlong", "Wisdom Bus", "Hello Aquarius", and my personal favorite "89 Days of Alcatraz". Meaningful and emotive lyrics abound, and are on no better display than in "Acid" (included on one of the Lillith Faire compilations) and "Your Sort of Human Being". Emm writes all of her own lyrics AND composes all of her own music, and her time and effort are very apparent throughout this album.

For those just becoming aquainted with Emm's work, I would advise beginning with her newest album "Asian Blue", as it is more immediately accessible than "Public". Only with repeated listens can "Public" be fully appreciated, but the experience is well worth the time. I would also like to point out that she has another album available of completely original material, "Science Fair", which is currently unavailable from amazon. It is also a superb album, if VERY unproduced and somewhat soft. As with "Public", it will endear itself to you further with every listen. Emm is what the female singer/songwriter should be... independent, intelligent, hard working, and an honest to god musician. Highly reccomended.

I've been a fan of Emm Gryner for a while now, since 2000 or something like that. This was the first album I bought and it was truly one of the best decisions of my life. "Public" is comprised of "stages". It's like diving into a giant bowl of your favourite dessert and that feeling lasts every single time you play this record. It's a timeless record (aka one that never gets old, boring or overplayed).
Gryner, who I think is one of the best song writers out there, has a special gift for music. This little known Canadian artist was named a favourite by David Bowie! She deserves a hell of a lot more credit than she gets.
As for the songs on "Public", one word sums it up: BRILLIANCE. The album starts off with the upfront guitar featurette 'Hello Aquarius', which I find musically inspiring. Emm goes into her simple yet complex lyric mode with the follow up 'Wisdom Bus'. 'Summerlong' was her single that has a more stripped down version on "Dead Relatives". It's an upbeat and her most "pop" song on the record. The first ballad-esque song on the album, 'Death is a New Day' is lyrically amazing. This will blow your mind . . . seriously. 'Phonecall 45' is a heavier song and one of my favourites. It's angry Emm. 'Acid' is a slower, piano ballad that is angry, sad and an emotional downslide. If this song doesn't want to make you cry - you have no feelings. 'The Good You Make' is sort of like 'Summerlong' in that it is a bit "pop" but it's still musically unique. 'Your Sort of Human Being' was my favourite when I got the album, it's distinctive and different. 'The End' is my favourite song now, it's the "who-stole-my-heart" song and her nifty lyrics. This can leave you feeling chills. 'July' is again like 'Summerlong', it's a feeling of love lost. '89 Days of Alcatraz' is possibly the heaviest song on the record, featuring straight up guitars and drums. Emm sounds angry and it's sweet. The album ends on a slow note with 'This Mad', which is beautiful and inspiring. The first line will suck you in "It's the start of the month, one of twelve I don't like - I'm too upset to even try to write, but I will ..." - wow.
This is a HIGHLY recommended album and if you're in high school - this helped me get through it so give it a shot. Beautiful, tragic, honest, angry and such a well-rounded album.

Intially I thought before listening to Emm Gryner's "Public" was this "not another Canadian female artist" but after hearing "Hello Aquarius" and every other song on the c.d, my reaction changed...Emm has talent. She pretty well much does everything from singing, playing piano, guitar, writing. To have such a strong c.d and not have any kind of public following afterwards is a crying shame, there are much less talented female artist making millions and a huge fan support...sorry Nelly Furtado "your one of them" There is a interesting story with Emm's start in the music industry, she use to wrap demo c.d's in fruit baskets and personally deliver them to every music distributor she could find and hope that the fruit would help entice the big shots in listening, that to me is being very determinded in getting recognized. It's really hard to pick a favorite off the c.d because their all good, the strongest songs would be Acid, Summerlong and Hello Aquarius...Acid in particular is very moving. Unfortunately after three c.d releases afterwards, she's still playing small venues with a small cult following. Whether or not her idea of starting her own c.d label "Dead Daisy Records" will pay off has yet to be known, I would like to see attention given to her that she so richly deserves and "Public" showcases her talents in the best way, much more so than the other c.d releases (Amazon.Com doesn't have them listed).

The CD is great! Gryner reminds me of Sarah McLachlan and Natile Imbrugila with a touch of her own certain flair. I love every song! Amazon is great for selling this. Thanx!