Who I Am

by Emma Shaka

Track listing: Can You Hear Me, Sex Away, Everything Is Alright, Coming Up, I Hate This, Who I Am, Let Me Try, What About Me, Scared of You, Checking You Were Gone

Emma Shaka's Who I Am is a rock and roll album, complete with crunchy guitars, driving beats, and soaring female vocals grown from the stylistic seeds of Ann and Nancy Wilson. The album delivers its goods unapologetically, with songs crafted and produced in a traditional classic rock vein.

Backing Emma's lead vocals are David Ortola on bass, Vincent Perotti on drums, and James Le Joliff on guitar. The trio provide a suitable landscape for each track, their performances are tight, professional, and flawlessly executed.

The challenge faced by Who I Am will be its clinging too hard to tradition. In a day and age where popularity follows Skrillex's grating remixes and the retro-Americana strains of The Avett Brothers, Emma's path seems to follow straight-ahead rock. Whereas these songs and Emma's solid live performances can entertain more mature crowds, the mainstream has a collective attention span of a gnat. Finding a large-scale audience with the patience to soak-in new 4-minute rock songs could be a tall task.

Posted on 3/14/13