Bulletproof singer-songwriter pop, with the melancholic longing of Joni Mitchell meets Sheryl Crow.

13 MP3 Songs
POP: Folky Pop, JAZZ: Soul-Jazz

Show all album songs: Afterglow Songs


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Afterglow

No, Jemma Endersby has not recorded a new version of the Beatles classic Come Together in order to storm the charts with a ditty that both young and old have reappearing in their ears from time to time. And yet this call for a joint celebration of music is perfectly mirrored in her new album entitled Afterglow. As apparent as the parallels to fellow songwriters like Aimee Mann might seem at first glance that Jemma prefers to tell her story in her own words and music. Afterglow is the continuation of the story which the artist had begun telling us with a frankness and profoundness as portrayed in her debut Little Ditties. (Scratchy Records 2002)

Yet the changes and progress is audible in both the lyrics and music. Jemma's concentration on the emotional travels of an adolescent, has made way for a process which seems to have opened her more for what is going on in her environment. Not only does Jemma reflect what people see in her, but moreover has she matured to become a compassionate person who cares about what's going on around her.

This innate opening is also tangible in her music which again establishes that perfect harmony to her lyrics as experienced in her earlier work. And although her enchanting "murder" ballads still take the listener into complete trance, there is a new vitality to Jemma's music through up-tempo tracks like "Time Will Tell" and "Afterglow". Their melodic groove and complex arrangements remind the listener of a soul-based interpretation of rock music from Canadian singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette.

The pop music scene can indeed be a place for artists who see music (and lyrics!) as a matter of the heart and soul rather than something replaceable and arbitrary. It is artists like Jemma who put all their personality and soul into their work without wanting to anticipate how much their album is going to sell before anything else. Because the music is bound to stay in people's memories and not necessarily the charts' notation.

About Jemma

In the midst of the current singer-songwriter flourish, including the likes of KT Tunstall, James Morrison and Norah Jones, stands Jemma Endersby, a shining new songwriting energy from the UK.

Jemma, who has been singing since everyone can remember, was born into a working class family in urban Bedford. The youngest of four children, her passion for music was both nurtured by her mother's love of Ella Fitzgerald and Queen and her father's quirky fanaticism for classical music. Early recollections of being made to lie on the living room floor and listen to the dying swan by Camille Saint-Saens, always brings back a giggle of fond memories.

After finding ardour in school choirs, volunteering for all the solo parts, nine year old jemma wrote and performed her first song back then in a school assembly. Always embracing opportunities to perform, Jemma began to develop what's been described as a raw natural talent - her strengths being her warm, energetic stage presence, vocal flexibility and ability to completely throw herself into a performance.

After graduating from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 1999, she left the UK for the continent, where she wrote and recorded 'Afterglow', her debut album in 2002.

With a voice evoking the clear bluesy tones of Norah Jones but delivering the sassy soul punch of KT Tunstall, Jemma has established herself as a writing force to be reckoned with in her adopted hometown of Cologne. Her melancholic melange of classic acoustic-pop, with unexpected harmonic twists and a pinch of jazzy-soul, leaves her listeners humming the melody and asking themselves 'What was that song again?'

An earthy an honest stage performer, Jemma keeps things intimate and brings the event of the song back to basics.
'If I can make a song work with just me and my guitar and get that gut feeling, then the song stays.'

Jemma loves working with vocal harmonies and has spent the last year working intensively as a backing singer for well known German and international pop and soul artists, including Joy Denalane (DE), Yvonne Catterfeld (DE), Gia Farrell (US) and the German Pop Idol live band.

'When I write, the backgrounds are almost always there from the word go. I love working with those crunchy part harmonies...think of Crosby Stills and Nash or Crowded House... I would drive my brother crazy when we were growing up cause I would never sing the 'bloody' melody'

Her long awaited EP 'Flow', showcases classic songs that hark back to the timeless bullet-proof era of Carol King and Joni Mitchell, while signifying the emotional maturity of an honest urban English heart.