Bespoke Pairings: Emily-Rose Sharkova with music for picnics, uncomfortable public spaces and cheeseboards
Emily-Rose Sarkova pairs music with the textures of life: uncomfortable public spaces, dark beer and cheese boards, frivolous picnics, long drives, quiet days, and the live rooms that put us back together.
Welcome to Bespoke Pairings, a new feature where we ask artists to pair music with other parts of life.
Think of it like the wine pairing on a menu.
Sometimes the pairing will be a song and the artwork, novel, film or landscape that helped bring it into being. Sometimes it will be an album matched with a recipe, a ritual, a poem, a protest, a season, a human predicament to get through or a place you can visit.
It's a two-way recommendation list. Pick up the album and add the experience. Or if you find yourself in that kind of experience, add in the album.
First up, Emily-Rose Sarkova takes us through six pairings: music for uncomfortable public spaces, sunset beer and cheese boards, frivolous picnics, long tour drives, quiet days at home, and the kind of live music experience that reminds you why we get to the gig.
Bespoke Pairings with Emily-Rose Sharkova
The Pairing Menu
- For uncomfortable spaces: PLUTO by Maja Lena
- For dark beer, a cheese board and sunset: Mogoya by Oumou Sangaré
- For a frivolous picnic: The Snake by Brittany Haas and Lena Jonsson
- For long drives: Way to the Sun by Minor Gold
- For quiet days: The Hard Work of Staying Soft by Lemon Myrtle
- For a restorative live music experience: Zeal H.
Playlist available on YouTube
Tasting Notes
1: An album to pair with an uncomfortable space
PLUTO by Maya Lena - Bandcamp
I like trains, but find the lights and people uncomfortable. As an often-nomadic admin worker (aka touring musician), I like cafes, but if there is a screen blaring images, I find it hard to concentrate.
So I use one of man's most brilliant inventions - the noise cancelling headphones. I'm a fan of using music to ease discomfort.
This album has been on high rotation as of late - and I particularly love "Clear as the Water".
Marianne's voice is so distinct, and the melding of acoustic and electric worlds makes me feel as if I'm hovering in a daisy field, in the 1960's, inside a spacecraft.
2: An album to pair with a dark beer, cheese board and sunset
Mogoya by Oumou Sangaré - Bandcamp
I'm not talking about your standard Guinness. I'm talking about the Imperial-milk-pastry-triple-peanut-butter-brittle-dark-choc stout you just found at the craft beer bottle-o on the most hipster industrial corner in Marrickville. And yes, the cheese board includes a truffle manchego and blue roquefort.
Any album involving Oumou Sangaré is a great pick for most times of day to be honest, but I'm a pretty huge fan of the creative production on this one from 2017.
3: An album to pair with a frivolous picnic
THE SNAKE by Brittany Haas and Lena Jonsson - Bandcamp
I'm not a string player, however I've surrounded myself with many of them in life and music, and I love trad fiddle traditions.
There is such a wealth of new, incredible music being made in the genre and I find the playful, virtuosic and nuanced playing on this album so inspiring. It's amazing how the simple mix of these two fiddle players can imbue such huge energy, groove and dynamics in each tune.
4: An album for long drives on tour
WAY TO THE SUN by Minor Gold - Bandcamp
I actually enjoy driving in silence for hours on end. It usually means that I am thinking, processing life stuff - or writing a new song.
When I'm not in silence and need something to sink into and sing along to, this album hits. Timeless duo vibes, classic and cleverly formed lyrics and production that feels like a warm sun on your back.
Tracey and Dan are also really lovely folk I've been lucky enough to share the bill with. Knowing them and their genuine, hardworking personalities brings even more depth to the listening.
5: An album for quiet days
THE HARD WORK OF STAYING SOFT by Lemon Myrtle - Bandcamp
This WA artist has salt of the earth vibes and shares my love of permaculture and nature. I haven't met Hannah, but I get the feeling we would get on.
Charlie Mgee of Formidable Vegetable sent me this album one day last year and it's such a good one to put on when I need a reminder to appreciate the incredibly privilege of living next to the bush, and being able to have quiet, safe days at home, gardening and sharing dinner with my housemate and friends.
6: An artist for a restorative live music experience
Every time I see Zeal H live, whether solo, or with her incredible band of musicians, she reminds me that live music brings like-minds into a space where we experience something that is restorative and transformative.
She keeps inspiring me to pursue being the artist that you are, not the artist that the 'industry' needs you to be in order to sell a boxed product.
That is the world I want to keep creating: one where we lift one another up with collaboration and admiration, not competition and corporate greed.
Thanks Emily-Rose!
Emily Rose and the Wild with Parvyn & Ofri
For an incredible live music experience, check out Emily Rose and the Wild with (previously featured) Parvyn & Ofri.
At the moment is a pure live experience - except for these clips, this is music that only exists in these lives performances (alas, no recording available as of yet, though I will keep campaigning for it).
They have two dates at the end of August. If you're on the Australian East Coast, don't miss 'em!
