Stephen Emmer Brings International Blue September 16th

Stephen Emmer’s ‘International Blue’ set for release 9/16/14
Produced by Tony Visconti at Abbey Road Studios & Avator Studios
Featuring Midge Ure (Ultravox), Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Liam McKahey (Cousteau),
Neil Crossley (Furlined), Michael Dempsey (The Cure)
“More than an excercise, International Blue is about its instantly timeless songs”  – MOJO

“Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory channels Scott Walker on Stephenen Emmer’s darkly sumptuous, orchestral tribute to his late Associates bandmate Billy Mackenzie. As classy as a gleaming vintage Rolls.” – The London Times

Stephen Emmer’s latest offering International Blue (Release date September 16th) pays tribute to the rare art of the pop crooner. As an accolade to this touch of elegance within the pop realm, International Blue infuses a modern twist to the genre with contemporary sounds & beats, studio techniques, insights and lyrical meaning in ten new and original compositions. A celebration of the epic chamber music pop of Burt Bacharach, Scott Walker, Nick Cave and Bowie, it features four of the great baritone singers in the UK today; Midge Ure (Ultravox), Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Liam McKahey (Cousteau) and Neil Crossley (Furlined). and was mixed and produced by the legendary Tony Visconti at Abbey Road Studios and Avator Studios in NYC.

‘Stephen Emmer is one of those musicians & composers who knows the musical rules best and therefore also how to break them.’ – Tony Visconti

Stephen Emmer & Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17) – ‘Untouchable’ (Cleared for Posting):

International Blue is the follow-up to Emmer’s previous release, Recitement, released in 2008, a unique spoken word album created from seventeen compositions based on literary text-fragments narrated by Lou Reed, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono, Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Burton, and more, with music by Emmer and a host of collaborators including Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino, jazz musician Benjamin Herman, and legendary pianist Mike Garson, to name a few.

Pitchfork said of Recitement: “Song lyrics are not poetry and poems are not songs, but that doesn’t mean poetry and music can’t agreeably coexist– even, in the right hands, enhance each other– as Emmer so convincingly asserts on Recitement” and UK’s Uncut Magazine also lent some praise: ” “Ever wondered how Bowie’s Low would have sounded if the Art of Noise had produced it and recruited Richard Burton to do the vocals?” When the late, great Lou Reed was asked to give a quote for the promotion of Recitement, he simply said “The music is wonderful.”

Stephen Emmer had what some would call a hedonistic, misspent youth and others would regard as simply magical. Born in Holland, he grew up in an Indian ashram learning to play local wind instruments during the ‘60s, before leaving for the heady Caribbean and learning their wild voodoo infused percussion. Back in Amsterdam in the ‘70s, he got involved in various bands such as an experimental free jazz group, a symphonic rock group, and an avant garde new wave electro-noise group called Minny Pops, who would be signed by the UK’s Factory Records alongside Joy Division and has enjoyed considerable cult status ever since, including touring with New Order throughout Europe.

Stephen Emmer has recorded, written for, and performed with a diverse range of artists and writers such as; Lou Reed, Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Billy McKenzie (The Associates), Mary Griffin (Parliament, Patti Labelle), The Lotus Eaters, Act (Claudia Brucken) and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has collaborated with producers such as; Tony Visconti, Flood, Steve Power, Sam Okell, Nigel Gray, Martin Hennet and Trevor Horn. He is currently best known in Holland & Benelux as the number one TV and film score producer and has released two solo albums; Vogue Estate (a cinematic 80’s album featuring some of the aforementioned vocalists) and Recitement.

International Blue track listing:

1. Let the silence hold you
2. Taking back my time
3. Blown away
4. Sleep for England
5. Untouchable
6. Song for a deserted wife
7. Seachange
8. Break in the weather
9. Mama’s mad
10. In the mirror reflected

All music composed and arranged by Stephen Emmer.