International Blue

International Blue pays tribute to the lost art and elegance of pop-crooning, and to the people who Stephen considers the style's main architects, Scott Walker and David Bowie. Produced by Tony Visconti at Abbey Road Studios.

Stephen Emmer's latest offering International Blue (Release date September 16th) pays tribute to the rare art of the pop crooner. As an accolade to this touch of elegance within the pop realm, International Blue infuses a modern twist to the genre with contemporary sounds & beats, studio techniques, insights and lyrical meaning in ten new and original compositions. A celebration of the epic chamber music pop of Burt Bacharach, Scott Walker, Nick Cave and Bowie, it features four of the great baritone singers in the UK today;

International Blue is the follow-up to Emmer’s previous release, Recitement, released in 2008, a unique spoken word album created from seventeen compositions based on literary text-fragments narrated by Lou Reed, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono, Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Burton, and more, with music by Emmer and a host of collaborators including Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino, jazz musician Benjamin Herman, and legendary pianist Mike Garson, to name but a few.

Stephen Emmer had what some would call a hedonistic, misspent youth, what others would regard as simply magical. Born in Holland, he grew up in an Indian ashram learning to play local wind instruments during the ‘60s, before leaving for the heady Caribbean and learning their wild voodoo infused percussion. Back in Amsterdam in the ‘70s, he got involved in various bands such as an experimental free jazz group, a symphonic rock group, and an avant garde new wave electro-noise group called Minny Pops, who would be signed by the UK’s Factory Records alongside Joy Division and has enjoyed considerable cult status ever since, including touring with New Order throughout Europe.

Emmer has recorded, written for, and performed with a diverse range of artists and writers such as; Lou Reed, Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Billy McKenzie (The Associates), Mary Griffin (Parliament, Patti Labelle), The Lotus Eaters, Act (Claudia Brucken) and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.