Emily Rodgers’s latest release, I Will Be Gone (Shimmy-Disc), is a haunting document of loss.
I Will Be Gone is a tribute to Rodgers’s brother, who died by schizophrenia-related suicide fifteen years ago; the music contained within is spectral and feathery, but elemental and emotionally direct at the same time. Produced by Kramer (a man associated with everyone from Bongwater and Butthole Surfers to Galaxie 500 and Low), the album breathes like an old house, Rodgers’s voice and her backing instruments echoing and rising to fill the space with wisps of sound. The title track, a swaying, mid-tempo acoustic ballad, focuses on the subtly wrenching phrase, “I knew him when he was well,” and is buoyed by the additions of a rich, keening violin and Erik Cirelli’s always-atmospheric guitar work. I Will Be Gone‘s beauty is shot through with enough pain to make it a difficult listen, but your hair will stand on end nonetheless.
Check out more from Emily Rodgers and follow on social media
Bored In Pittsburgh 