Q&A with Emilie Mover

Emilie Mover

It’s usually pretty fun and easy to slap down an introduction here, but I found Emilie’s biography on her MySpace page much more interesting than anything I could muster on my own. So, taken directly from her MySpace page: “Emilie Mover was conceived in Miami Beach, Florida at the Paradise Beach Hotel. She was born in Montreal on a snowy November evening. She grew up in Toronto and spent some time in New York City where she began singing jazz with her father, saxophonist Bob Mover. She later moved back to Toronto, where she began to play guitar and write songs soon after. She began playing them for an audience at age 20 at the Tranzac Club in Toronto and has been doing so ever since, recently having had the honor of opening for Richie Havens at Hugh’s Room.” Also, you may have heard her songs on several commercials, as well as the hit TV series, Grey’s Anatomy.

Blue Indian (Luke Goddard): Hey Emilie! Thanks for chatting with Blue Indian?

Emilie Mover: Pleasure!

BI: What’s one of your favorite things about touring?

EM: Sitting in the passenger seat, listening to music, and watching the trees go by.

BI: “Good Shake, Nice Gloves.” Where did this title for the album come from?

EM: It was one of those perfect moments.  It was wintertime and I was wearing as such winter clothes.  I shook my friend’s hand and said “Good Shake”, to which he replied “Nice Gloves”. At that moment I knew.

BI: What is your view/take on the ukulele?

EM: I want to learn to play it.  I’ve recently discovered the guitalele, actually, which is lesser known and ridiculously hard to find.  It’s basically just a uke sized guitar, but it’s got the most adorable sound and makes any song sound great in a completely new way.

BI: What’s it like when you’re on YouTube and you stumble upon someone singing a cover of one of your songs?

EM: I’ve never actually stumbled on someone covering a song, but there are a few videos of people dancing around to a song or two, as well as one fantastic home-made video for Ordinary Day.  That stuff just makes me feel really happy, knowing that a song of mine brings joy to someone else.

BI: How many/What instruments do you play?

EM: I play guitar mostly.  Lately I’ve been practicing a lot of classical guitar.  If I could play like anyone it would be the Brazilian guitar player Luiz Bonfa, he’s brilliant.  I’d have to say, though, that my main instrument is the larynx.

BI: Your dad, Bob Mover, how did he influence your music career?   Does he play on the album?

EM: How did he not influence my career?  I began singing standards with him walking down streets and singing in clubs when I was a kid.He is a seriously brilliant musician (sax), but as a vocalist he is wonderful as well.  He is fluent in the mathematics of music but with him, no matter what, there is always an underlying importance put on the meaning of lyrics, melody, and harmony, and how they all come together to create the real core of the thing.  He’s a real music spiritualist, and passed in on to his progeny in spades. He didn’t play on the last album since he was living in New York and I in Toronto at the time.  But I’ve been spending a lot of time down there recently and there is always talk and great hope for collaboration.

BI: Greys Anatomy has given you a ton of publicity. Are you a big fan of the show?

EM: I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but I don’t have a TV so I don’t really watch ANYthing at all.  I am very grateful for the publicity, though, as I’m sure a lot of independent artists are.

BI: Did you ever do that cover of Flo Rida’s “Low”?

EM: I WISH!

BI: If you could perform with any artist, who would it be?

EM: It varies depending on what song I`m listening to at that particular moment.  Oh wait, scratch that: Stevie Wonder.  He is love.

BI: How was it working with Patrick Greenaway?

EM: He is a really talented and nice guy and we clicked from the start.  The night we met we sat around drinking red wine and smoking cigarettes in the studio, just getting to know each other and recording.  It was a blast.

BI: Any crazy rituals before playing a show?

EM: Shot of Jack.  Ha.  That sounds bad.

BI: Do you have a favorite place to play?

EM: The Tranzac Tiki Room in Toronto.  At a show, or even in the daytime with nothing going on except the sun streaming in the windows.

BI: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

EM: I HOPE, owning a country house with a studio in it, recording all the music I want surrounded by friends and family.  Or maybe working in Africa.  Or maybe living in the Dominican Republic.  Lots of things.

BI: How is the music biz in Canada?

EM: I love the Toronto music scene.  I really feel that there is a camraderie based on simple love of music, as opposed to making it big or whatever.  I dont know about other places in Canada, but there is a lot of wonderful music nerdship and sharing going on in this city right now. It’s underrated as far as I’m concerned.

BI: If you were to be any animal, what would it be and why?

EM: A bird that spends its whole life singing.  I think.

BI: Thanks for answering all of these questions!

EM: Pleasure!  I’m sorry it took so long.  Maybe I would be a lazybird.:)