By M&C News Jul 31, 2007, 0:08 GMT
Geffen Records has announced the debut EP from Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera, Mystic River, The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon). ‘Inside Out’ is available exclusively through iTunes.
The first single, “Slow Me Down,” about trying to “find a respite from all the craziness,” is made up of more than 150 different parts and harmonies, every one of them sung by Emmy herself, including, in some cases, the percussion.
“This music is who I am,” says 20-year-old Emmy Rossum of her self-titled debut on Geffen Records. “In the movies, I’ve always felt like one piece of the puzzle. But this is all me. It’s my baby. I get to write, direct and star. And that’s the most fulfilling thing. It’s everything I’ve always wanted to do. This music is so close to me. It’s something new… You can’t categorize it.” With a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Christine in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera and major roles in the big-budget Hollywood motion pictures Mystic River, The Day After Tomorrow and Poseidon, Rossum has made her name as an actress, but her first love has always been music.
By the age of seven, she was singing with the Metropolitan Opera, performing in more than 20 separate productions in six different languages at Lincoln Center alongside icons such as Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
“There’s a photo of me listening intently to a violinist in Central Park when I was two,” says Rossum, who grew up in Manhattan an only child, raised by her photographer mother. With her mom often traveling, the young Emmy was often left to her own devices, much of the time spent listening to classical music like Vivaldi and jazz piano by John Lewis.
That longing for closeness and fear of abandonment can be heard on several songs from the new album, written largely by Rossum with producer Stuart Brawley. It is a showcase for her remarkable vocal range. With a lush, sensual style, Rossum sings every note on the album. Her vocals seduce, rather than show off.
The first single, “Slow Me Down,” about trying to “find a respite from all the craziness,” is made up of more than 150 different parts and harmonies, every one of them sung by Emmy herself, including, in some cases, the percussion. “Stay” was the first piece she wrote for the record. When she started the recording process, Rossum decided she didn’t want to make the album in a “popera” classical style similar to Sarah Brightman, another diva associated with Andrew Lloyd Webber.
“I felt I had exhausted that part of myself,” she explains after her stints in the Metropolitan Opera and in Phantom. “I’ve been exposed to a lot of different kinds of music since that period of my life. There were so many other influences I picked up along the way.”
While her film career continues to gain momentum, Rossum is looking forward to performing the material from her album in concert, already planning an elaborate stage set with video that can capture her singing with herself.
“I don’t do things halfway,” she says. “I’d like my live show to be its own entity, a full presentation.” Rossum has released an iTunes bundle with three songs, a video and a 15-minute documentary revealing a more intimate side of her. “I’ve never been more excited about anything,” she says about the record. “This album is about figuring out who I am. It’s the real Emmy Rossum. For the first time, I’m not speaking someone else’s lines. I feel the most open and able to express myself in a song. It’s scary because it’s all me.”
If you think you know Emmy Rossum, listening to her music makes clear there’s a lot more than meets the eye… and ear.
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