Page 20 - Real Style August 2018

Oh, Emily
sical and uplifting, veering more towards pop than her previous sound. And now on August 24, Kinney is set to release her latest studio al- bum, Oh, Jonathan, one that is even more per- sonal than her previous work.
“It kind of chronicles an off and on rela- tionship I had for about three or four years,” Kinney says. “The kind of relationship where you start out dating, and maybe something hap- pens and you kind of break up. Then, you date other people, break up and get back together. When we first met, I was working on The Walk- ing Dead. There were other acting projects and I was moving around a lot. There was a lot of long distance, back and forth and confusion. All the songs are inspired by this person.”
As one would expect, writing an album about such a relationship was a very personal thing for Kinney, but one that she didn’t mind because it helped her get out of her shell. “I can be an introvert in some ways,” Kinney admits, “maybe kind of quiet in certain ways. I feel
like writing music is my way to sort of let people in. It’s my chance to say my side of the story or let people into how my brain is processing things, how my brain is working. I feel like music is such an opportunity for me to get to connect with people, when I can in real life be somewhat shy and somewhat introverted in certain situ- ations.”
One of the things Kinney’s fans will notice right away is that Oh, Jonathan is a huge change from her pervious work. Gone are the coun- try twangs and folk sounds, replaced by more pop, synthetic beats. “Be- tween my last album and this one, I definitely did some experimenting,” Kinney says. “In the past, I was very much more focused on the lyrics
and the melody, just getting them out. What- ever just felt natural, whether it was that folk sound or rock-ish feel, if it feels natural, just go with it. This time, I made a list of songs that I love and thought about ‘Now, why do I love those songs?’ Well, the first thing was, they re- ally had impactful lyrics, very much a point of view. There was that, but then, I also noticed that in the instrumentation, there was a lot of space. I kind of went in experimenting, trying to figure out what sounds will give the words space. Before, I kind of felt that I was filling up things, like with lots of guitar. But this time, I felt like creating more of the vibe underneath, the atmosphere, creating atmospheric sound, and then letting the words really take on the main focus and the melody.”
Kinney’s musical talents aren’t just show- cased in her solo efforts either. Last year she decided to start writing music with her boy- friend Paul McDonald, which turned into them performing live shows together as The Sweet-
20 Real Style August 2018