Beaner's Beats: Two Emot-ional Drunks

When one first encounters the name “Two Drunks” the first thing that comes to mind does not necessarily hold a positive connotation. Contrary to its misleading title, the new LP released by the St. Paul band Emot could be considered anything but the work of a drunk. While it does seem to be comprised of abstract thoughts, these thoughts are so beautifully composed into music that they could only be planned that way.

Emot is composed of: Matt Leavitt on vocals, keys, and guitar, Robert Mulrennan on guitar, and Justin Harke playing the bass. These three musicians brought together the idea of Emot during the summer of 2007. After a long recording period through 2009, the debut album “Two Drunks” is finally ready for release.

Similar to the sounds of Radiohead and Coldplay, Emot slips through the ears like a swirling stream. With various moods and tones ranging from the quiet floating feelings in the track “Alice’s Afterword,” to harder coarser feelings such as those in the track “Strawberry Acid.” Utilizing various styles and layers of sound, Emot has created a pleasantly diverse album.

Indeed the sounds of this LP strongly recall elements of Radiohead’s “Ok Computer” album. Each track seems to feature acoustic guitars and electronic features. The vocals are wonderfully clear and give the high notes without becoming too trebly. Each track feels like the soundtrack to a dream. They give off the impression of being floating, colorful, and cloudlike.

As a listener, my favorite track has to be “Dead Leaves.” It has a warm and bubbly sound to it along with listing bouncing lyrics. The melody plays off of the ambient acoustic guitar that gives the feeling of warm fall evening. When hearing the guitars play off of each other in the runs and melodies, one can’t help but smile.

Ironically, the most thoughtfully orchestrated track of the album may be the title track, “Two Drunks.” Once again abdicating its title, the song is anything but mindless. The song pulls one in with a beautiful guitar line, complementary treble parts, wonderfully analog keyboard, various levels of instruments, and a lullaby type singing performance by Matt Leavitt. Using components such as musical breaks, crescendo, and even a solo-esque riff sequence, “Two Drunks” is an unearthly five minutes and sixteen seconds.

Emot has a lot of future potential and, I feel, has yet to reach its peak of creative work. I highly recommend the album “Two Drunks.” With the local Minnesota talent like Emot on the scene, there may yet be hope for the future.

Emot plays at Beaner’s Central on January 30th at 7 PM. Cover charge is 5$. Hope to see you all there!

Tags: duluth east, greyhound blogs