Ema Jolly (born 8 January 1986), better known by her stage name Emika, is an English electronic musician of Czech origin (her mother is from

Příbram Příbram (; or ''Przibram'') is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. It is known for its mining history, and more recently, its new venture into economic restructuring. The town is the t ...

) currently residing in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Her self-titled debut album was released in October 2011 via

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

and received generally positive reviews.

Biography

Emika, a classically trained musician who studied classical piano and composition, grew up in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, England. She started to make music at school (using an old sequencer program she found on a computer stashed in a cupboard) and waitressed to save up for her first Apple Mac and copy of

Logic Studio Logic Studio is a discontinued professional music production suite by Apple Inc. The first version of Logic Studio was unveiled on September 12, 2007. It claims to be the largest collection of modeled instruments, sampler instruments, effect pl ...

. Emika received her Music Technology degree in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, then procured an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

at the offices of the London label

, where she worked for a month. As the Bristol music scene was transitioning from

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

, 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

on her own and decided to stay there. In Berlin Emika began working as a sound designer for

Native Instruments Native Instruments is a German company that develops, manufactures, and supplies music software and hardware for music production, sound design, performance, and DJing. The company's corporate headquarters and main development facilities are lo ...

, while honing her own, "uniquely haunting" (

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

) musical style with her laptop, picking up ideas from the dance scene at the

Berghain Berghain () is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station.

and

Panoramabar Berghain () is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station.

clubs. ''Fünf'', the compilation album of music crafted from field recordings made inside these clubs by Emika (who contributed her own track "Cooling Room" to the compilation), was released by Ostgut Ton, as part of the celebration of the label's five-year anniversary. Her job at 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

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" (April 2011) 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 (11 October, in US), 2011, her debut album '' Emika'' came out (all four singles included), 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

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and classical, critics compared her to

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer-songwriter. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automat ...

The xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), ...

Zola Jesus Nika Roza Danilova (born Nicole Rose Hummel; April 11, 1989), known professionally by her stage name Zola Jesus, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her music has been noted for combining elements of electronic, industrial, ...

and

Beth Gibbons Beth Gibbons (born 4 January 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, who have released three albums. She released an album with fellow English musician Rustin Man, '' Out of Season'', ...

. On 18 October 2011 Emika embarked upon her first American tour, supporting

Amon Tobin Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin (; born February 7, 1972) is a Brazilian electronic musician, composer and producer. He is noted for his unusual methodology in sound design and music production. He has released eight major studio albums unde ...

on his

ISAM Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM) is a method for creating, maintaining, and manipulating computer files of data so that records can be retrieved sequentially or randomly by one or more keys. Indexes of key fields are maintained to achieve ...

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.Album of the week: Emika 'Klavirni LP'
Emika Boiler Room Berlin LIVE Show. Retrieved 3 June 2015. 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 album ''DREI''. ''Ibiza Spotlight'' gave both records their Album Of The Week accolade.Album of the week: Emika 'Klavirni LP'
Ibiza Spotlight. Retrieved 3 June 2015.

Education

Emika studied Creative

Music Technology Music technology is the study or the use of any device, mechanism, machine or tool by a musician or composer to make or perform music; to musical composition, compose, music notation, notate, playback or record songs or pieces; or to Music infor ...

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

Film, advertising and other music use

Her music has been used in adverts by Gucci, McLaren and NBC - who used her cover of

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is popularly known for his breakthrough hit and sig ...

Wicked Game "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak from his third album '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). It was released as a single to little attention in July 1989 but became a sleeper hit when Lee Chestnut, an Atlanta radio station ...

in an episode of

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp and developed by John Eisendrath. It stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, an international criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives ...

, 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 Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and her music was used at the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Her track, "Professional Loving", was sampled by

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

on his track "Professional" on his debut album ''

Kiss Land ''Kiss Land'' is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd. It was released on September 10, 2013, through XO and Republic Records. The album was supported by the lead single of the same name, as well as " Belong to the Wo ...

'' (2013).

Collaborations

Emika has collaborated with artists and producers such as Tommy Four Seven, Pinch, Nick Hoppner, Paul Frick, (

Brandt Brauer Frick Brandt Brauer Frick is a German electronic music ensemble from Berlin. The group's members are Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Friedrich Frick, Paul Frick. The group's members are classically trained and began performing together in 2009. ''T ...

and Marcel Dettmann (with whom she co-produced a song for his artist album). She has recorded with the

City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech classical, jazz and guest musicians. The history of the orchestra goes back to the Film Symphony Orchest ...

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 (along with Gazelle Twin) 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''.

Improvisations X Inspirations

Emika launched a new collaborative label called Improvisations X Inspirations (also abbreviated as ImpXIns).

Solo discography

Albums

* '' Emika'' (

, 2011) * '' Dva'' (Ninja Tune, 2013) * ''Klavírní'' (Emika Records, 2015) * ''Drei'' (Emika Records, 2015) * ''Melanfonie'' (Emika Records, 2017) * ''Falling in Love with Sadness'' (Emika Records, 2018) * ''Klavirni Temna'' (Emika Records, 2020) * ''Chaos Star'' (Emika Records, 1 May 2020, download, was available for 24 hours only on Bandcamp) * ''In Parallel'' (Emika Records, 22 January 2021) * ''Haze'' (Emika Records, 28 May 2024) * ''Vega'' (Emika Records, 29 November 2024)

Mini albums

* ''Chemical Fever'' (14 May 2012, Ninja Tune) * ''Klavírní EP'' (download with the album ''Dva'', 10 June 2013, Ninja Tune) * ''Drei Remixes'' (24 July 2015, Emika Records) * ''Flashbacks'' (4 March 2016, Emika Records) * ''Forever Never'' (5 August 2016, Emika Records) * ''Melanfonie Momente'' (28 October 2016, Emika Records) * ''DREI Instrumentals & A Capellas'' (download 22 December 2017, Emika Records) * ''Falling In Love With Sadness Remixes'' (11 October 2019, Emika Records)

Singles

from the album ''Emika'': * "Drop the Other" (12", 18 January 2010,

) * "Double Edge" (12", 15 May 2010, Ninja Tune) * "Count Backwards" (12", 11 April 2011, Ninja Tune) * "Pretend" / "Professional Loving" (12", 5 September 2011, Ninja Tune) * "3 Hours" (12", 13 February 2012, Ninja Tune) from the album ''Dva'': * "Searching" (''download'', 15 April 2013, Ninja Tune) * "Centuries" (''download'', 1 July 2013, Ninja Tune) from the album ''Drei'': * "My Heart Bleeds Melody" (

promo PROMO (Promoting Missouri) is a Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territ ...

only, April 2015) from the album ''Falling in Love with Sadness'': * "Eternity (Earth version)" (''download'' 29 March 2019, Emika Records) others: * "Melancholia Euphoria" (''download'' 30 November 2014, 12" 1 December 2014, Emika Records) * "Close" (''download'' 11 June 2018, Emika Records) * "Sleep in the Day" (''download'' 1 May 2020, Improvisations X Inspirations)

Collaborations

* 2009: ''Price Tag'' EP (MyMy & Emika, AUS Music) * 2010: "2012" ( Pinch & Emika,

Tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

) * 2011: "I Mean" EP (Paul Frick feat. Emika, Doppelschall) * 2011: "Make You Sleep" (Kryptic Minds vs. Emika, Black Box) * 2011 : "Pretend" (Brandt Brauer Frick) * 2016 : "Dreamt In Flesh" (Emika Remix) * 2017: "Olive tree" by

Luke Black Luka Ivanović ( sr-Cyrl, Лука Ивановић; born 18 May 1992), known professionally as Luke Black ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Лук Блек, separator=" / ", Luk Blek), is a Serbian singer and songwriter. Born in Čačak, he became the first Serb ...

(Emika production) * 2018: “Tell Me What You Remember”, (The Black Dog, featuring Emika, from The Black Dog's “Black Daisy Wheel” album)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emika 1986 births Living people Alumni of Bath Spa University Dubstep musicians English electronic musicians British trip hop musicians English people of Czech descent English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters Musicians from Buckinghamshire People from Milton Keynes Ninja Tune artists English women in electronic music 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Musicians from Bristol