I’ve seen Emmo play as part of a rock band in The Firkin Crane Theatre. I’ve seen him entertain the locals at boisterous bars and bistros and I’ve seen him busk on Grand Parade. Yet it is when all the bravado is stripped away, Emmo really comes into his own.
‘Little Bird’ comes as a hand on the shoulder, a gesture of reassurance, a kind word from a friend. “A friend of mine was going through a rough spell”, says Emmo, “and I wanted to pull them out of it to realise that they’ll be fine in the end but didn’t know really what to say in the moment so later put it to song”.
The cheerful fingerpicking intro, contrasted with the opening line, “hopeless little bird”, comes as a grim reminder of how easy it is for people to guard their true self from those around them. Emmo develops this point throughout the song: “What looks like earth could be quicksand” acts as a double entendre, for both the first point and also how easy it is for people to fall back into a dark state of mind
-Stephen Cool
Check out more great Cork music artists on the Troubadour Distillery website
