Pampelmoose (Dave Allen of Gang of Four’s Music and Media Blog), October 24, 2007 (click for full article)

On her new CD Dark Undercoat, [that’s an evokative title by the way, does she mean clothing or paint? Or merely the idea of something lurking, dangerous, hidden?,] White offers complex tales of melancholy and isolation and aside from the Alela comparison she also offers us a nod and a wink to Cat Power although I would suggest that she’s less sultry, less sexual, at least on first blush. And I mention blues singers as White’s music owes a clear debt to classic female jazz and blues singers such as Billie Holiday. I’ve posted a cut below from White’s album, it’s entitled Bessie Smith and ruminates upon the life of one of the 1920’s-period blues legends of the same name. This website calls Smith “a rough, crude, violent woman” and such was her public persona but it goes on to say that “she was also the greatest of the classic Blues singers”. White is more restrained than her subject matter but nonetheless delivers in her work a feeling of melancholy that evokes a pathos that’s akin to Smith and Holiday’s painful lamentations.

The Deli SF, October 22, 2007 (click for full article)

I can quote lyrics from Emily Jane White’s upcoming release Dark Undercoat, which I will proceed to do, but it’s nothing like the way they come to life when Emily delivers them.

Neiles Life, October 18, 2007 (click for full article)

N.L. Mailbox

Macktronic, October 10, 2007 (click for full article)

It’s kind of hard to listen to SF singer/songwriter Emily Jane White without immediately recalling the work of Chan Marshall. However, due to the talent of EJW, she is able to stand comfortably on her own; she doesn’t need to ride Ms. Marshall’s coattails.

Rolling Stone, 2007 Hot Issue, October 2007

HOT CHANTEUSE: Emily Jane White

Thanks to Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and a billion bearded dudes with guitars, California’s new folk movement is already blowing up. But now Emily Jane White is bringing the darker side to that scene. The twenty-six-year-old Northern California native’s debut CD comes alive with enough gothic imagery for an Edgar Allan Poe novel. On Dark Undercoat, White pierces her characters with bullets (”Two Shots to the Head”), sticks them with voodoo pins (”Hole in the Middle”) and pushes them into blades (”Dagger”). The twist is that with her woeful delivery, the violence is more cathartic than cruel. “All these death metaphors are just the different elements of life,” she says.

Dark Undercoat’s sparse tracks unfold at a reflective pace, with White’s plaintive croon draped over minimal guitar, piano and percussion arrangements. Cat Power is the easiest modern comparison to her melancholy balladry, but White’s heroes range from PJ Harvey to Emmylou Harris to Poison Ivy of the Cramps, and the album kicks off with an ode to legendary blues queen Bessie Smith. White wrote the song in response to the common rumor that Smith died because an all-white hospital refused to treat her following a car accident. “Death is at the heart of the blues, and her blues is so old you can feel it,” says White.

Dark Undercoat also pays homage to everyday heroes. White wrote “Wild Tigers I Have Known” for Cam Archer’s movie of the same name, a Gus Van Sant-produced portrait of a gay teenager struggling to put his desires into action. “The song was a way for me to connect with the heartbreak of that experience,” she says. “When you decide to go deep with darkness, you also unearth pieces of gold.”

Berkeley Place, September 21, 2007 (click for full article)

Occupying an odd space between Hope Sandoval, Cat Power, and Goth, Emily Jane White makes musically simple but lyrically complex folk songs that ruminate on myths and mystics.

Hee-Haw Marketing, September 7, 2007 (click for full article)

San Francisco musician Emily Jane White sounds like a less bluesy, but more rootsy Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) type. Mostly slow, melodic guitars and pianos alongside minimalist drum beats dominate this gem of an album. While it’s mostly simplistic, it is so in a good way. Not simplistic and boring, but more understated and soulful.

Gorilla Vs. Bear, September 7, 2007 (click for full article)

Layering Cat Power-esque vocals over a crisp piano arrangement, San Francisco resident Emily Jane White has created a beautiful piece, both lyrically and musically, that could easily have been a You Are Free bonus track. CP comparisons aren’t bad things — we love Cat Power — and when not haphazardly used to describe any artist with a reverby female voice, it can perk one’s ears.

SF Weekly, May 16, 2007 (click for full article)

Emily Jane White is a rare solo performer who can cut through noisy club din and turn antsy foot traffic into apt listeners. Her voice pierces the egos of those within earshot; it’s a low, lilting alto, often compared to Chan Marshall and Hope Sandoval. Ghostly melodies float through her songs on ornate piano passages and simple guitar figures. But no matter how you find your way into White’s world, it’s easy to stay there.