Emika and Her Melancholy Pop Take on David Bowie's 'Let's Dance'

All photos: © Gregor Blanz / Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Dammit Emika, stop doing new shit. We can't keep up. Just when you think you've got a handle on the 28-year Berlin emigre she goes and moves the goalposts, again. The Brit-born polymath began her career by field recording Berlin techno Mecca Berghain, then went onto become a sound designer at Native Instruments and collaborator with artists such as My My, Brandt Brauer Frick and Marcel Dettmann.

Now, the Berlin émigré has her very own signature sound; somewhere between leftfield electronica, dub-inspired rhythms, classical and trip pop. For her second album Dva, Emika enlisted the help of master of layered sound Hank Shocklee - he of legendary production trio The Bomb Squad, who produced for the likes of Public Enemy and Ice Cube. Most recently, Emika has covered Bowie's classic 'Let's Dance', which she recently performed during a live showcase at Berlin's Haus der Berliner Festspiele

"Where's the harm in trying things?", Emika asked when we caught up with her in advance of the show. We asked her about her history with Bowie, how she befriended Shocklee and what she's currently working on.

Watch the video for 'Let's Dance' below:

THUMP: You've covered David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' - why did you choose that song?

Emika: I like new challenges. I was very intimidated by the thought of covering 'Let's Dance'. I've covered 'Wicked Game' [by Chris Isaac] before, and that was daunting enough. But covering 'Let's Dance' was a whole new level. That said, it's when I'm challenged that I'm at my most innovative, I find. The only way I can deal with a challenge is to experiment.

Also, if the idea comes quite spontaneously, something great happen. My executive producer Hank Shocklee had the idea. I originally planned on covering 'China Girl', but Hank pushed me to attempt 'Let's Dance'. In retrospect, I'm confident that nobody's done Bowie like this before - and certainly no one from within the area of music I work in. I think it will be interesting for our audience.

What's the 'area of music' in which you work?

Emika: Sound design, electronic, contemporary classical pop.

That's a pretty wide range.

Emika: Basically not jazz, and not rock.

A couple of years back I had the impression that you were being pigeonholed as a dubstep-y artist.

Emika: The longer you're an active artist - releasing, creating, performing - the more time you have to share what you do with people. When you put out your first record, that's all people know - you can't expect them to understand you as an artist until you have some time to share your ideas and publish more work. Ultimately though, the genre I trade in is simply electronica.

How much convincing did it take for you to agree to do 'Let's Dance'?

Emika: A lot! I'm pretty stubborn.

Being that it's also one of his biggest commercial hits.

Emika: What was most intimidating was the thought of facing the ire of Bowie's fan base. But apart from that, with 'Let's Dance' you're talking about a song that's had an incredible impact on pop music ever since. That's intimidating enough.

Hank and I, we have a quite deep relationship where we discuss a lot of things to do with the music's construction. I didn't want to do it, but Hank's ideas were so good I finally just had to say "Yes." I also reckoned that it's always the ideas I initially resist that tend to work out best for me in the end. And where's the harm in trying new things?

Speaking of trying new things: Your vocals in this cover version are so much different from all your other songs. Why the deep, dark voice? It's even darker than Bowie's own voice.

Emika: Hank told me: "If you're covering a leftfield, outsider artist like David Bowie, then you have to try and push it further left." Basically, create a new sound. You can't just take the lyrics and the chords, and recreate it on a different instrument. It has to have a whole new production approach. I've noticed since Burial, since dubstep, that all the guys use vocals and pitch them up. It's a very recognisable production sound. I like taking the opposite approach; taking a female voice and pitching it down.

Electronic music can be very serious. When I started, I felt to have the opportunity to explore and escape the rules of classical music, but today, everything feels too restricted, too genre-, club- or dance-orientated. I'm looking for ways to break that apart, to smash it down. This cover version has a serious concept and a lot of thought behind it, but it's always very playful and simple.

Does that approach have an underlying political dimension to it, perhaps?

Emika: I like the idea of gender and sound, but that was more of an afterthought. If you think about pop music, there's this obsession about female singers using Auto-Tune to manipulate their voices.

Not just in the case of women. It's a necessary tool?

Emika: That's what producers are being paid for; to make it sound clean, squeaky and great. I like to fuck things up, basically.

Did you grow up with Public Enemy or David Bowie? You're born in 1986.

Emika: 'China Girl' is the first record I remember hearing. I asked my dad: "How does it sound like that?" I was referring specifically to the echo, but in general that record sounds very special. My dad explained it to me and then got me a 4-track cassette recorder, so I started recording my piano on cassette. I didn't get to know Bowie's catalogue until much later. At that age, I was obsessively listening to one or two songs. 'China Girl' was an important song.

How did you and Hank Shocklee meet?

Emika: I was on tour with Amon Tobin in the US, opening for his ISAM show. The guy that Amon rented the extra PA [system] from is an ex-basketball player. He's so tall that he could never sleep on the tour bus, and I was so excited that I couldn't sleep either. We were hanging out at night, and at one point he said he wanted to get his friend Hank to the New York show. Everyone was freaking out that night because Hank Shocklee was there. To be honest, I didn't know who he was, but everyone else seemed to be excited. After I performed that night, he came backstage and we had a chat.

Did he know your music already?

Emika: I don't think so. Hank maybe knew of me, but he didn't know if I was a producer or a singer. I was a bit insecure about my music at the time. I had a lot of pressure finding and working with a producer. I felt as if I was in a rut with my work, yet I didn't know how to ask Hank if he wanted to be my producer. How do you even say that to someone you hardly know?

But how did you do it then? How do you ask someone like Hank?

Emika: My dad was in New York at this show, so he met him before I did. When I came back from New York, my dad told me: "This is a serious guy. Write him an email, follow it up - this is your career." The first thing I did was write to him, and ask if we could be friends. Then, as I opened up to him about my process, he began to realise that he could help me. Ultimately, he became my mentor. That relationship has continued to flourish: he became the executive producer of Dva, and everything I've released since. It's a fantastic partnership.

What music are you currently working on?

Emika: I've written a tonne of new songs which will form an LP, a couple of EPs and maybe some 12". I've also remixed everything because I want to put out my own club mixes. I've started writing my first symphony for a 100-piece orchestra - I've just come from Prague, where I was checking out some potential studios. This symphony is going to be based on a song called 'Miracles', which is the lead track for the Emika LP.

Back to 'Let's Dance'. The music video for your cover version is a bit contradictory in that there's very little dancing, and a lot of slow movement.

Emika: Slow and suggestive posing. The guys I shot the video with - MKMK - wanted to create several "me's".

It feels more like a fashion shoot, like a Vogue cover.

Emika: It very much reflects the frame of mind that I'm in right now. I want my stage show to look dark; to have everything structured around shadows and as little light as possible. Basically, the opposite of what female-fronted pop shows currently look like.  I wanted to have that same look inform this music video. We thought that rather than putting effort into creating a narrative, you can't go wrong with a straight-up performance video. The video simply depicts me as I am right now. I'm 28 years old… that was the hair I had that month… that was the mood I was in then. It's straight up.

Did you hear back from Mr. Bowie about the cover?

Emika: I'm not sure. Maybe I'll tweet him. "Hey Bowie, what do you think of this weird cover?"

Read more on THUMP:

Tobias' "The Scheme of Things" is an Ode to Simplicity (and David Bowie)

Raster-Noton is an Avant-Garde Institution

Forbidden Planet is Experimental, but Not Difficult

Walter has no fear of pop. You can follow him on Twitter: @wwwacht