Originally hailing from Dublin, Ireland, and later relocating to Los Angeles, Friends of Emmet found inspiration in the story of suicide survivor Kevin Hines, who at age 19, decided to end his life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Having survived his 245ft fall to the waters below the bright orange, iconic bridge, he gained a new lease on life and became an advocate for several suicide prevention programs. After learning of Kevin Hines’ amazing story of human perseverance, Friends of Emmet were inspired and wrote the title track to their debut album “Coming Apart”. Members of Friends of Emmet were touched so much by the subject of suicide that during their recent tour they’ve played various gigs in support of suicide awareness and prevention programs throughout their tour.

“Coming Apart” is a dynamic debut album from Friends of Emmet and could easily begin to carve their place, in the genre of adult contemporary or easy listening. Their debut effort shows their talent for competent musicianship and compelling arrangements which is heard clearly on songs like “Coming Apart,” “Suntan Superman,” “13th Floor” and “No Surprise”. Friends of Emmet are able to craft a dynamic texture to their songs by arranging clever melodies, harmonies, and hooks for the lead piano and guitar, which stand out from each other, yet blend nicely with the competent rhythm section consisting of bass, drums, and (sometimes) organ and strings. It’s unclear who is responsible for writing the lyrics, which is strange because there’s many memorable lyrical melodies on this album that should be given credit where it’s due. The lyrics are written in a way, that sometimes you’re left with no choice but to have a chorus stuck in your head as you find yourself unable to release the catchy melodies from your short-term memory.

The freshman release from Friends of Emmet is one that fits neatly in to the adult contemporary genre, but isn’t afraid to showcase different styles which would be familiar to the audience of that genre. A palette of catchy tunes like “Coming Apart” and “ Suntan Superman” offer a straight ahead rock groove that screams to be a radio single. Slower ballads such as “Amazed”, and “Shadows and Dust” are well arranged with beautiful lead piano work, perfectly crafted guitar melodies, and competent organ and string playing to fill out the ensemble. Friends of Emmet are able to add some country flavour to the album with the song “Watching The World” which showcases a guitar style (and tone) that is synonymous with modern country music as the solo drops and you’re left reconsidering which genre this band may one day fit into as the country twang shines right through. Some R & B flavour is added as well with their cover of David Bowie’s “Young Americans”

Although a debut album, “Coming Apart” has moments of musical déjà vu. During the songs “Love Light”, “13th Floor” and “Watching The World”, the spacey, almost ghostly guitar melodies of Brian Lynam (Guitar, Background Vocals) remind me of the signature style of guitarist David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) as the ghostly guitar whines and floats around melodies that work to compliment the songs composition. At times during “Amazed” Mark Leddy (Piano, Lead Vocals) tends to accent vowels such as long “As” or “Is” which is reminiscent of grunge singers from the 90’s use of vowels and diction. The most delightful moment of déjà vu on “Coming Apart” comes in the form of a cover of David Bowie’s “Young Americans”. Friends of Emmet do “Young Americans” justice by keeping the core elements of the original song intact, but adding more swing to the production by adding more saxophones and opting for a more straight ahead guitar solo than the Bowie original. Although the length of this Bowie cover was shortened slightly, I’m happy to hear they’ve kept the feel of the original, right down to the quoted John Lennon lyric sung by the background singers “I read the news today, oh boy…”



Coming Apart Track list:

1.They Are Coming Apart
2.Young Americans
3.13th Floor
4.No Surprize
5.Watching The World

All around, the debut album “Coming Apart” is a solid first effort from Friends of Emmet, who seem to easily craft memorable harmonies and melodies into radio friendly songs. This talent will ensure that their music will stick to the ears of their future audience and shows promise for future albums. With an album that uses the palette of the adult contemporary/ easy listening genre, they paint their arrangements with the colours and techniques of different genres to create a sonic picture that remains vivid in the listeners mind after the music has finished playing. Friends of Emmet are off to a good start in their musical career.



by Zack Brenneman

Global Entertainment Magazine