Emma Geiger - “Reverse Bloom”

Photo by Archer Boyette

Please carve out about five minutes of your life in order to experience the reason we are completely enamored by the sweet and delicate folk music of North Carolina’s Emma Geiger. Her latest offering, “Reverse Bloom,” is all the motivation you will need to start your own blog so that you too might be left to uncover the many sonic treasures of the world.

Upon pressing the play button, listeners shall be greeted by an ethereally cinematic synth, slowly fading in across the soundscape. Moments later, the endearing and lo-fi sounds of a lone acoustic guitar appear, gently finger-plucked and imbued with a distinct melancholic vibe. This is folk music in its most honest form, sounding as though you’re experiencing it in person, wherever you might be. And if this raw and authentic characteristic is one that you often crave, you will find it omnipresent within all of Geiger’s work.

Geiger’s vocal arrives, at first not much more than a whisper as she feeds us lines that examine the loss of a friendship. If you recall our previous reviews, she has been blessed with a voice that is perfect for the genre, relying solely upon emotion and honesty, with no need for the crutch of digital production. A fantastic harmony enters on the back half of the verse and the song begins to feed us evidence of the approaching dynamic shift.

And with that, Geiger sweeps into her upper register to deliver the golden hook. Vintage-tinged drums appear to offer a gentle forward propulsion, and “Reverse Bloom” is suddenly twice its original sonic size. Anchored by the weight of bass, the arrangement expands to include the otherworldly wails from a pedal steel– if you’ve ever read a single page of our blog, you’ll know that this sound is our kryptonite. Couple that with the gentle nature of this musical beast and you have yourself a folk song that truly should not be missed.

-HD