According to her official biography, Emily Wells walked away from a major label deal when she was still a teenager because she wanted complete creative control over her music. And by complete creative control, she meant “complete creative control.” Not only does Wells write all of her own music, she also produces, mixes and records it on her own, in her own studio that she built by herself (and she walked barefoot in the snow uphill both ways to buy mixing boards, most likely). She’s really pushing it with her “I’m my own artist” image, and she should take it down a notch because her music can’t compete with it, not yet anyway. On her debut album The Symphonies: Dreams, Memories & Parties, Wells proves that her demand to write and perform her own songs was right; she is a great songwriter, unique singer and competent violin player. Unfortunately, though, she’s not a very good producer or mixer. When she lets the songs speak for themselves, they’re great, but she rarely lets them. Instead she buries them in overdub after overdub, creating a dizzying echo effect so powerful that anyone listening to the album on headphones might pass out. Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production has nothing on Wells and her homemade, self-taught production methods. For her, a single wall isn’t enough, and tracks like “Fair Thee Well & The Requiem Mix” and “In The Barrel of a Gun” are surrounded with a Dome of Sound, assaulting the listener nonstop from all sides. Wells’ has potential as a songwriter and performer, but she has to let someone else take the reigns behind the scenes, or she’ll bury herself alive in her own music. (Creative Control)
