Last year, Emily Lewis released her debut solo EP Dreamtrax—a heartfelt, emotive, harmony-rich Americana record. While she’s baring her soul, she’s hoping to connect with other people feeling the weight of darkness crushing them, and also emphasize the importance of being in touch with one’s own feelings.
“A lot of the themes that come out in my songs are universal,” Lewis says.
She’s been playing music for 22 years in various groups, though more seriously the past eight years. Her most recent group was a duo with Naia Graham called Sweet Medicine that formed in 2012. It was a folk-oriented project that Lewis says played “medicine music.” She’s a believer in sound healing, and wrote these spiritual songs utilizing healing techniques she learned. They’d play yoga retreats and retreat centers.
“We incorporated chants and mantras into our music,” Lewis says. “We also wrote new material, which were lullabies for adults in a way.”
But Lewis had a lot of other material, including the emotional, intimate songs on this new record. In “Grief” she sings, “Grief comes in waves/sleepless nights. Belly Aches/sometimes the waves overtake me/I am lost at sea.”
She sees her solo music as its own form of sound healing, as well.
“I see my music as a way of connecting people to their own emotional experience,” Lewis says. “It gives people permission to express what they’re feeling.”
