Emm Gryner

The career of Emm Gryner consists of many more highs than lows. She was invited to play with David Bowie by the man himself, has received several Juno nominations and has gained lots of critical acclaim for her albums that manage to avoid the usual female singer-songwriter clichés. That includes releasing Girl Versions in 2001, taking songs by Fugazi, Blur, the Clash and Ozzy Osbourne and turning them into piano ballads. It was a successful move, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that her seventh album, Songs of Love and Death, is also comprised of covers, this time all by Irish artists. Releasing a second album of cover versions a mere four years after the last one might hint at a lack of ideas but fortunately Gryner has the good sense to not only to select an eclectic and imaginative list of songs. She also makes sure that her reworkings are as equally interesting as her choices. For example, Ash’s "Shining Light” is transformed into a piano-driven hymn to love while the Horslips’ "Dearg Doom” becomes a stalking piece of electronica making it one of the album’s highlights. Elsewhere she gives songs by the Thrills, Thin Lizzy, Something Happens and the Undertones a more typical Emm Gryner treatment, but all in all, Songs of Love and Death is another successful journey through other people’s work.