Emulsion Ep. 9 - U.S. Girls on a Life In Movies

When people call music cinematic, I think they just mean it sounds like it could be in a movie. About which, fair: being in a movie would do so. But the term is a little frivolous and unevocative. So take me at my word when I say U.S. Girls, the band fronted by American ex-pat Meg Remy, evokes such in its grand, powerful, barreling, vivid sound. I’ve loved her music for years––a super-aggressive start in ambient, atonal sounds that segued almost seamlessly into a kind of furious disco pop that’s bred the likes of 2018’s In a Poem Unlimited, maybe my favorite album of the 2010s––and with her new album, Scratch It, out now via 4AD, I saw the opportunity to talk with her about a parallel life in cinema. I should note that Remy is a touring musician, which means we talked with imperfect airport wi-fi and incidental chatter floating in the background, ergo a guy directly behind her on a phone call became an unwitting participant for a short period of this episode. All that notwithstanding, it was a pleasure talking to her and, I hope, a window into the artistic interests of one of our great musicians.