Emily Moment is an American songwriter living in London. While she’s been a member of acclaimed bands such as The Savannahs and Mahoney & The Moment she’s also been a champion of Americana music in the UK as one of the organisers behind the long-running concert series Chalk Farm Folk. A monthly event that was as much about community as it was the music.
Her latest single, Santa Maria, is inspired by the Migrant Caravan from Central America and how those migrants, who had travelled a staggering 2,500-mile journey to escape persecution and poverty, were treated by a country that also apparently believed in the American Dream – freedom and an opportunity for prosperity and success. Instead, their hopes were met with Trump’s declaration “our military is waiting for you”, matched by a media-fed growing public fear.
Emily breaks through the media noise to the reality of the situation with a very personal story of a mother, worn out and broken, praying to her god for salvation and mercy. There’s a lovely warmth to the sound of this recording, no doubt helped by her choice of studio: Urchin Studios — the London-area studio where Laura Marling tracked Short Movie several years earlier.
She makes it a human story…with her emotive voice at the forefront, it’s a powerful, empathetic and moving song – the kind of song you can imagine Joan Baez singing, let’s hope this one reaches as many ears, it deserves to.
Emily on Santa Maria:
“Inspired by interviews with migrants making their way to the US border, Santa Maria listens in on one woman’s prayer for some kind of salvation.
“Though it sadly continues to be relevant today, the Migrant Caravan from Central America particularly dominated the news back in the end of 2018. The way it was framed by the US government and selected news outlets lit a fire in my belly. I couldn’t believe that what seemed to be a human crisis could be painted with such fear and cruelty. One woman’s story in particular cut right through me and I wrote the song for her. In an album which fundamentally explores what it’s like to hit the proverbial wall, Santa Maria is perhaps the most literal iteration of that motif.
“Recorded live with the band at Urchin Studios (Laura Marling, The Staves, Tom Odell), the track wound up with both a warmth and a purity that sonically surpassed what I had hoped we’d achieve. The band really hung back on this one, building this perfect net beneath the vocals, elevating the track without overtaking it.
The video was filmed in 2020 with London moving in and out of lockdown restrictions, so I knew I’d have to think outside the box and work fairly quickly. I remembered that the woman at the centre of my story was being housed in a church on the Mexican border and that gave me the idea for filming. There is this stunning little church where I lived at the time which dates back to the 14th century. With Covid, I knew the church had been trying to limit the amount of people inside, and I didn’t want to take up the already limited space from a member of the parish, but I was also in the process of moving to a different neighborhood so this ‘now or never’ surge took over, and with my flat full of boxes and a long list of stuff I needed to do, I grabbed my mask and my guitar decided to take my chances. As luck would have it, moments after I stepped foot in the church a big storm rolled in which lasted for a few hours. This meant I had the whole place to myself for the afternoon while the rain came down on the stained glass, which was pretty magical.”
Santa Maria features on Emily’s new album The Party’s Over out on March 26. For those literary lovers out there, this may prove to be a bit special as the album is filled with references to literary masters like Murakami, Bukowski, and Joan Didion (all of whom are thanked in the album notes), it’s an album about hitting a wall — about coping with life’s physical and mental struggles when it seems as though things can’t possibly get any harder. Many of the songs were inspired by Emily’s time working at a counseling center, while others find her mixing autobiography with unique character studies, tackling supplementary themes like the universal struggle to find a sense of home, happiness, and belonging. It also features a cameo from Marling’s drummer, Matt Ingram, and mixing from Dan Cox (Laura Marling, Tom Odell, The Staves).