Scout Niblett

All Music Guide:

Scout Niblett is Nottingham, England's answer to all the brash, intelligent, and honest female songwriters that emerged from America during the early 21st century. Continually compared to Cat Power and fellow countrywoman PJ Harvey, Niblett (real name: Emma Louise) proved her own merit with a strong, stark voice and a penchant for spartan songs containing only drums and vocals. She also became known for her eccentricity, which included a fondness for wigs. Her lyrics, however, displayed a more serious side, creating their own place where love and its complimentary senses ruled and took on their own lives. While often playing solo, Niblett also utilized a revolving cast of bandmates from time to time, as well as the frequent assistance of producer Steve Albini.

Taking her stage name from Harper Lee's famed novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Niblett first emerged as a musician in 2001, having contributed to a split 7" with Songs: Ohia on the Indiana-based Secretly Canadian Records. Her first full-length, Sweet Heart Fever, soon followed. Another 7" was released in 2002, and 2003 saw the release of both the I Conjure Series EP and I Am, the latter of which was recorded by the revered engineer Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago. An American tour in spring 2005 with the Kills coincided the release of Kidnapped by Neptune, Niblett's debut for her new label, Too Pure. Continuing her partnership with Albini, she returned in October 2007 with This Fool Can Die Now (which also featured four duets with Will Oldham) and followed it up in 2010 with The Calcination of Scout Niblett, one of her most minimalist works to date.

Wikipedia:

Emma Louise Niblett (born 29 September 1973), better known by the stage name Scout Niblett, is an English singer and songwriter. Her music is frequently minimal in style, many of her songs consisting merely of vocals accompanied by either drums or guitar, which she primarily plays herself. She is known for her intimate live shows.

Early life [edit]

Niblett was born and raised in Staffordshire, England and was classically trained on piano and violin as a child. Niblett began recording compositions she made up on the piano as a child, and later in early adulthood on the guitar. making a demo of songs in 2000 that consisted of arrangemnts for voice guitar and drums, these songs were included and re-recorded for her album debut in 2001 Sweet Heart Fever. Niblett chose her stage name in honour of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, the protagonist in Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She studied music, fine art and performance art at college in Nottingham.

Music career [edit]

Niblett has released five LPs, through the Secretly Canadian and Drag City record companies in North America and through Too Pure in the United Kingdom. Her first release was a split 7" single with Songs: Ohia in 2001. Shortly after this she released her first LP Sweet Heart Fever, recorded at Chem Nineteen Recordings in Hamilton, Scotland by producer Andy Miller with drummer Kristian Goddard. Her follow-up release was a one-sided 10" EP, I Conjure Series, recorded live, where Niblett plays all the instruments herself. For the next two albums, 2003's I Am and 2005's Kidnapped by Neptune, Niblett enlisted the help of Steve Albini, as well as guitarist and bassist Chris Saligoe. The title track from Kidnapped by Neptune has been featured internationally on Stella McCartney's perfume advertisements. She also features on Jason Molina's album Magnolia Electric Co. (2003). 2007 saw the release of Niblett's fourth long player This Fool Can Die Now again featuring a rhythm section of Kristian Goddard & Chris Saligoe as well as Bonnie "Prince" Billy as guest vocalist on four of the albums duets. 2010 saw the release of The Calcination of Scout Niblett

Niblett cites among her influences a number of grunge period bands, including Mudhoney, Sonic Youth and Nirvana, and in particular the guitar of Kurt Cobain; she has covered the Nirvana song "Verse Chorus Verse" in concert. She also stated that she was hugely influenced by Courtney Love, Cobain's wife, and her band, Hole: "I was really into Hole in a big way. The first album was phenomenal. I think Pretty on the Inside is amazing."

Her drumming technique, however, is inspired, she says, by a man who played at an open-mic night in Nottingham and would accompany himself on the drums while playing Beatles covers. This drumming technique has been a particularly distinctive feature of Niblett's records with Steve Albini, whose method is to place the drums centrally in the mix. A good example of Niblett's minimalist approach to songwriting is "Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death", included on I Am and as the B-side to "I'll Be a Prince". It consists solely of a drumbeat with a cheerfully delivered repeating lyric, "We're all gonna die!", eventually concluding, "We don't know when, We don't know how." Niblett names the song as a favourite. Also of note is her downbeat cover of Althea & Donna's 1978 reggae hit "Uptown Top Ranking", which Niblett released as a single after it became popular at live performances.

Personal life [edit]

Niblett has an obsessive interest in astrology — explaining the title of her 2005 LP Kidnapped by Neptune, she says, "Neptune is this planet that everyone has in their chart. But for me, where Neptune is right now and has been for the past two years has been affecting my chart in a huge way. Neptune is kind of the musicians’ planet, it rules music." She also is said to use astrology to predict the best place and time to record her music.

She resides in Portland, Oregon