Emiko: "7 Steps Away"

It’s almost Christmas, sort of, so what better kind of star to take a peek at than one who’s tipped to light up come December? New York’s Emiko has been gathering power like a runaway tropical weather system, rolling from one side of the planet to the other: BRIT nominations, Overplay Song awards and a Japanese worshipping via YouMusic. The final prophecy came earlier this year when Universal/Famous signed her, and the PR machine began its meticulous crank, with websites taking over from overworked Myspace pages. All that hype isn’t undeserved, though—Emiko might be another ex-classical star who made the switch into “fearless piano rock,” but she also switched herself three times into the Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writers Showcase, even moving to Abbey Road in the process. This is a girl who can write, sing, wear daisies in her hair and study musical history, fitting shrill operatics around bass and guitars like rye round layers of salt beef. “7 Steps Away” is a major label’s first bite of her, and also the first time she’s played with conventional balladry—setting foot in the Big Apple, she very quickly croons about becoming a cliché, “Like one of those New York stories you read about.” Already you can hear the naysayers plotting the downturn/bloodbath, the one where the executives have turned her onto coke and then wasted her to initiate Best-Ofs.

Call me optimistic, but on the sole strengths of “7 Steps Away” I can’t quite see that happening: on this track Emiko appears as smart as her big budget production, and comfortably ahead of the curve as she internal-monologues her way along Fifth Avenue. Stalking eight paces behind some innocent uptown Adonis, she sings of how she has “Always had self-control but now I can’t help myself / Because you’re seven steps away.” Some raw but shiny chords tinkle around her, and Emiko sings as happy as a girl in the rain on TV, moving at half-Gene Kelly speed. Lyrically, it may not be all that groundbreaking—tailing a conquest and sensing him through the rain like Daredevil—but it’s a kooky enough turn for a new major signing, particularly one who believes openly in Martians. It’ll be interesting to watch newcomers accuse her of pitch correction when she’s actually just flexing her vocal cords.