Your Voice in My Head”, released last year, was an impactful portrait of mental illness.
In her Guest DJ Project set, Emma’s wittiness and charm are on full display as she discusses the songs that have meaning to her, mostly because of their heartfelt lyrics.
The UK author, now based in LA shows us the sexy side of Bob Dylan, the importance of cover songs in exposing “alternate narratives”, as well as the Blur that expresses her battle with bi-polar manic depression.
Best of all, she turned me on to one of my new favorite songs – Donny Hathaway covering John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”.
And explains exactly what makes it so special:
“What I love here is what I love in pieces of writing that I’m drawn to and acting performances I’m drawn to, which is a real sparseness and an elegance. You get so used to…you read novels where people are just showing off, that they’re showing all the words they know in the history of their lifetime, and I’m much more drawn to, ‘Well, what can you say that you mean to say in as few words as possible?’
And you see that in music sometimes, and I think that’s exactly what Donny Hathaway does with this cover, and it just drives me crazy.”
Check out her Guest DJ set in the archive here.
Emma Forrest Guest DJ Project Tracklist
Watching You Without Me – Kate Bush
Isis – Bob Dylan
Jealous Guy – Donny Hathaway
Heard It Through The Grapevine – The Slits
This Is A Low – Blur
RR