Since 2006, ambient / drone / psychedelic Cleveland trio Emeralds have been massaging their analog synthesizer creations into the kind of drifty, contemplative compositions that have made them one of new cosmic music's most consistently compelling acts.
John Elliott, Mark McGuire and Steve Hauschildt began playing music together under the name Fancelions in 2005. However, due to a desire to simplify and focus more on live improvisation, they re-formed as Emeralds, playing their first show under that name in June 2006. Since then the group has released around fourty recordings (most of them CDRs and cassettes) for an array of well respected labels including their own imprints Wagon and Gneiss Things.
Across releases, the group's often been poorly lumped in with the noise or, more perplexingly, the hypnagogic pop (groan) scene. But for their third official album Does It Look Like I'm Here?, which came out in May 2010 and earned the best new music title with incredible 8.3 on Pitchfork, the band has served up another reminder that they're far more interested in the pastoral daydreams of kosmische, brainy New Age and light-Krautrock acts like Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, Cluster or Jean-Michel Jarre. This time around, Emeralds have landed on Peter Rehberg's experimental giant Editions Mego, once again presenting another radical new direction for this Cleveland trio and offering arguably their sharpest and most short form, pop-inclined record to date. Variating in mood and intensity, each of their major releases has its own particular signature, owing in part to changes in gear and technique, and in part to being a band that improvises and records non-stop. Any given album feels like a snapshot of the band in time. Does It Look Like I'm Here? sees the group moving from playing single oscillator analog synthesizers to really complex analog and analog/digital hybrid as well a great deal of guitar synthesizers, however vocals, electronics and field recordings are often utilized to create dynamic textures amidst melodious backdrops and minimal structures.